Assisted suicide: The last word

Recent case law sets out the position of the courts and the expected role of Parliament on assisted suicide. David Foster discusses ‘The Court of Appeal felt that there was no doubt that Parliament was a far better body than the courts for determining the difficult policy issue in relation to assisted suicide in view …
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R (on the application of Conway) v The Secretary of State for Justice [2018] WTLR 597

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Summer 2018 #172

The Appellant, Mr Conway, suffered from terminal motor neurone disease. He sought a declaration under s4 of the Human Rights Act 1998 that s2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961, which makes assisted suicide a criminal offence, disproportionate interferes with his right to respect for his private life under Art8 of the ECHR.

At first instance, Mr Conway put forward four main arguments:

1. The ‘blanket ban’ on the provision of assistance for suicide constituted an interference with his Art8(1) rights in a way which is disproportio...