Scharfenberg cited the Dutch system as an example in this regard. In the Netherlands, disable people can become the services of so-called sex assistants — certified prostitutes who are paid for sex with a person in need of care.
This "sex aid" can be received if certain conditions are fulfilled: a person must receive a medical certificate from a doctor saying that he or she can't be satisfied in any other way.
Sexual assistance is a growing trend and more and more prostitutes offer sexual services of this kind, for example, in nursing homes.
Germany's Pro Familia counseling center has been trying to attract public attention to the fact that many men and women with disabilities want sexual services and to clarify whether such services can be paid by health insurance funds, social welfare funds or other state institutions.
However, representative of German Foundation for the Protection of Patients, Eugen Brysch, holds little of this initiative, saying that people who struggle to fulfill their basic needs like washing or eating have "other worries" than having sex.
A similar opinion was expressed by SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach who called Scharfenberg's proposal absurd.
"We do not need paid prostitution in retirement homes, especially on prescription. What we need is more intimacy for our home residents," Lauterbach said, cited by Tagesspiegel.
A number of European experts also suggest that soon there will be another alternative in terms of assisted sex, namely sex with robots which soon could become an absolutely normal part of life. Some researchers believe that brothels with sex robots will be able to offer customers a safer and cheaper way to express their sexual fantasies. Moreover, sexual contact with a robot is less likely to cause sexually transmitted diseases if a person follows certain hygiene recommendations.
