Assisted Suicide: A Study in the English Criminal Law and the European Court of Human Rights Jurisprudence
Associate Professor of Criminal Law – College of Law – Qatar University – samirawashdeh@qu.edu.qa
Abstract
Assisted suicide is, without doubt, a highly controversial subject in many countries with views on both sides of the debate sincerely and firmly held. The notion of helping another to take his or her own life raises considerable ethical, social, medical as well as criminal law issues. The prominence of the debate surrounding the legalisation of euthanasia has continued to increase in recent years following a number of cases that have explored the boundaries of the current legal distinctions drawn between legitimate and non-legitimate instances of ending life. The English law on suicide is unclear on its relationship to other end of life decisions; it is confused. The ban on assisted suicide is ineffective, morally obtuse and, though controversial, out of line with popular opinion. The case law raises a variety of legal and moral problems, and consists of a series of justifications based on wide reaching principles and doctrines, creating loopholes in the law rather than creating a statutory framework and implementing sufficient safeguards. The status quo is arguably indefensible and something must be done to prevent the law from developing in a disordered and unclear manner. Reform is needed to ensure the law does not continue to develop in the messy, unclear fashion it has done so previously. Certainty is greatly needed not only for society as a whole but also for judges dealing with such hard cases.
Keywords: Assisted suicide, Euthanasia, right to die, European Court of Human Rights, English law.