Table 1.

Timeline of public health strategies and laws passed or revised after 2004 for Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.

Year	Austria	Germany	Switzerland
2004	Public health care strategy: concept of graded hospice and palliative care in Austria	Register of health care proxies	—a
2006	Law: advance health care directive (legally binding and nonbinding)	—	The Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences issues medical ethics guidelines for palliative care
2007	Law: health care proxy	Law: specialized ambulatory palliative care as a mandatory insurance benefit	—
2008	—	—	Novelty: adult guardianship law
2009	—	Law: advance health care directive	National strategy: Palliative Care 2010-2012
2012	—	—	National strategy: Palliative Care 2013-2015
2013	—	—	Law: advance health care directive
2015	A parliamentary commission of inquiry: “Dignity at the end of life” with 51 resolutions for financing, promoting, and establishing palliative care services	Law: hospice and palliative medicine statute; prohibition of services for assisted suicide	Establishment: National Platform for Palliative Care
2018	Novelty: adult guardianship law	—	—
2020	Constitutional court rescinds the prohibition of assisted suicide	Constitutional court rescinds the prohibition of services for assisted suicide	—

^aNo public health strategies and laws were passed or revised during this year.