We had a similar case not far away from my flat.

A man slipped and fell because of this his Adam's apple blocked his windpipe. A nurse was standing a few metres away, she and her boyfriend took a knife and a biro to cut his throat open and to create a artificial trachea.

Ambulances and Police arrived, (polices always accompanies an ambulance if something happens in public) and one the manager asked the police who's going to pay for the two items.

The police gave him a provisional cheque. In the end the women's health care paid the bill because a nurse was the helping her.

There was a discussion what would have happened if it would have been a regular person helping her, and that this would have been the case the state had to pay it, and that stealing to help a person from dying in this case would still be illegal but exempt from punishment. This does only apply for this Bundesland, I'm not sure about the situation in other ones.


I think it's technically shoplifting and someone has to pay for the item. It may be the state, healthcare, the person who took the item or maybe the shop owner. Imho this should be paid by healthcare or the state.

But I don't think anyone should get arrested for this