EL CONSENTIMIENTO HIPOTéTICO DE LA VíCTIMA EN EL DERECHO PENAL ALEMáN HYPOTHETICAL CONSENT OF THE VICTIM IN GERMAN CRIMINAL LAW

El presente artículo examina la figura jurídica del así denominado "consentimiento hipotético" de la víctima, introducida en la jurisprudencia penal reciente del Tribunal Supremo Federal alemán (BGH) y que ha recibido aplicación en casos de intervenciones médicas con fines curativos realizadas sin el consentimiento informado del paciente. En tales casos, el BGH ha negado la responsabilidad penal del médico por el delito de lesiones, de comprobarse que el paciente, de haber sido debidamente informado, hubiera consentido previamente en la intervención realizada. Se examina asimismo la recepción de esta igura por una parte de la doctrina alemana y se exponen inalmente los fundamentos que, a juicio del autor, deben conducir a su rechazo. This article examines the legal concept of the so-called "hypothetical consent" of the victim, introduced in the recent criminal jurisprudence of the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) and it has received application in cases of medical interventions with healing purposes made without the informed consent of the patient. In such cases, the BGH has denied criminal liability of the doctor for the crime of medical injury, after probing that the patient was duly informed and the patient had previously consented to the intervention. It also examines the reception of this igure as part of the German doctrine and inally the fundaments that lead to its rejection, according to the author's judgments.