A precedent-setting court case on assisted suicide will go ahead after a judge today ruled that he was legally obliged to develop the law on the issue instead of waiting for the legislature to decide.
Robin Stransham-Ford‚ 65‚ is dying of terminal prostate cancer and has urgently asked the court to allow him to end his life‚ arguing he will otherwise die an undignified death. The advocate from Cape Town says he has only weeks left to live and is on morphine for pain which causes him to become confused and sedated.
At the Pretoria High Court today‚ the judge ruled the matter is urgent as Ford has no other remedy available to him.
The judge also dismissed legal argument that no doctor would be available to do euthanasia‚ saying it would be a matter of privacy for a willing doctor.
Part of Stransham-Ford’s application is for doctors not to be sanctioned should they help him die.
Man persuades court to hear first right to die case
A precedent-setting court case on assisted suicide will go ahead after a judge today ruled that he was legally obliged to develop the law on the issue instead of waiting for the legislature to decide.
Robin Stransham-Ford‚ 65‚ is dying of terminal prostate cancer and has urgently asked the court to allow him to end his life‚ arguing he will otherwise die an undignified death. The advocate from Cape Town says he has only weeks left to live and is on morphine for pain which causes him to become confused and sedated.
At the Pretoria High Court today‚ the judge ruled the matter is urgent as Ford has no other remedy available to him.
The judge also dismissed legal argument that no doctor would be available to do euthanasia‚ saying it would be a matter of privacy for a willing doctor.
Part of Stransham-Ford’s application is for doctors not to be sanctioned should they help him die.
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