Medically assisted suicide: Recent jurisprudence and the challenges for law reform

Abstract

Decisions on the issue of medically assisted suicide were delivered within a two-year period by the Supreme Court of Ireland (Fleming v Ireland [2013] IESC 19), the Supreme Court of Canada (Carter v Canada (Attorney General) [2015] 1 SCR 331; 2015 SCC 5), the High Court of South Africa (Stransham-Ford v Minister of Justice and Correctional Services 2015 (4) SA 50; [2015] 3 All SA 109; [2015] ZAGPPHC 230 (GP)), and the High Court of New Zealand (Seales v Attorney-General [2015] 3 NZLR 556; [2015] NZHC 1239). This editorial scrutinises the jurisprudence generated by the decisions, identifies their ramifications and argues that it is likely that the combination of the carefully constructed judg..