The central theme of this scientific work is self-determination of elderly and disabled persons in Austria and
Germany. Self-determination in this case means the possibility of individual forms of living for everybody. Self-
determination and autonomy are essential principles of Austrian and German law. Ort the one hand the law has to
respect the individual will, an the other hand people should be protected from dangerous situations by law. For
example the increase of mental illnesses like dementia brings rise to the question, what if the individuals are not
able to make decisions for themselves.
Beginning with statistics about elderly and disabled persons this work contains a legal comparison between Austria
and Germany concerning the constitutional and private law. It is focused an private law which is the basis for the
relationship between consumers and the institutions providing the needed services. Private law also determines the
dimensions in which the individual rights are affected. Beginning wich self-determination and private autonomy
the research concentrated an the economical self-determination of elderly and disabled people in their position as
consumers, concentrating an aspects concerning medical and nursing services. Special parts are the limits of self-
determination, rights of patients and people living in homes, the legal liability of institutions and people working in
these fields, the living will and other anticipated decisions.
A general trend showed that the Austrian and German law provide a strong protection of selfdetermination and
private autonomy. However in practice this is not often the case. In medical and nursing fields patemal ideas still
exist, elderly and disabled persons still seem to depend an charity.