The German branch of the Swiss assisted suicide group Dignitas is seeking to help someone die to see if helpers will be prosecuted under German law. The deputy director of Dignitate, Uwe-Christian Arnold, told Deutsche Welle that the present state of the law was ambiguous. Dignitate's plans have unleashed a storm of protest because people associate euthanasia with the Nazis. However Mr Arnold claims that the German medical association is spurning a very sensible proposal for “a pressing social need” because it has a guilty conscience over its links to Nazi atrocities. He insists that voluntary euthanasia is “quite different from what the Nazis did”. He is hopeful that euthanasia will be legalised: “Because of the churches and the medical association, abortion was also completely taboo here for years, and nowadays we can perform abortion here just like in England and other countries.” ~ Deutsche Welle, Nov 23