High Court upholds right of woman to travel abroad for suicide
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《英国医生杂志》
A 65 year old British woman with a degenerative brain condition committed suicide at a Zurich clinic this month, after a High Court judge refused to intervene to stop her husband taking her there.
Suicide is not a crime in Britain, but aiding a suicide is a serious offence carrying a maximum 14 year prison term. The judge, Mr Justice Hedley, said that the husband, named only as Mr Z, had arguably already committed the crime by the time the case came to court, in arranging for his wife to make the trip to the clinic.
A local authority, which also cannot be named, took the case to court after learning that Mrs Z, who has cerebellar ataxia, was determined to travel to the clinic, run by the non-profit organisation Dignitas, which specialises in assisted suicide. The authority, which was providing care for Mrs Z in her own home and had identified her as a "vulnerable adult," made the unprecedented application to the court for a ruling on whether it had a duty to act.
The husband had at first refused to help his wife. But as her condition, first diagnosed in 1997, worsened, he made inquiries about assisted suicides in Switzerland, where it is legal.
The police had not been clear on whether helping someone travel to a country where it was legal constituted aiding a suicide, Mark Everall QC, for the local authority, told the court.
The authority alerted the police and obtained a temporary injunction stopping Mr Z from taking his wife abroad until a psychiatrist had assessed whether she was mentally competent and acting of her own free will.
The judge said: "The evidence clearly establishes that she has legal capacity and that her decision is her own, freely arrived at with full knowledge of its consequences. The court is not entitled to test that decision against what the court thinks is right. The right and responsibility for such a decision belongs alone to Mrs Z."
He added: "The court should not frustrate indirectly the rights of Mrs Z. The role of Mr Z is now a matter for the criminal justice agencies."
It will now be up to the director of public prosecutions, Ken Macdonald, to decide what, if any, action to take against Mr Z.
In a similar case in January 2003, when Reginald Crew, a 74 year old man with motor neurone disease, ended his life at the Swiss clinic, police from Merseyside travelled to Zurich and questioned clinic staff. They are also thought to have questioned Mr Crew抯 wife, Win, who accompanied him, but no prosecution was brought (BMJ 2003;326:242).(BMJ Clare Dyer legal corr)
Suicide is not a crime in Britain, but aiding a suicide is a serious offence carrying a maximum 14 year prison term. The judge, Mr Justice Hedley, said that the husband, named only as Mr Z, had arguably already committed the crime by the time the case came to court, in arranging for his wife to make the trip to the clinic.
A local authority, which also cannot be named, took the case to court after learning that Mrs Z, who has cerebellar ataxia, was determined to travel to the clinic, run by the non-profit organisation Dignitas, which specialises in assisted suicide. The authority, which was providing care for Mrs Z in her own home and had identified her as a "vulnerable adult," made the unprecedented application to the court for a ruling on whether it had a duty to act.
The husband had at first refused to help his wife. But as her condition, first diagnosed in 1997, worsened, he made inquiries about assisted suicides in Switzerland, where it is legal.
The police had not been clear on whether helping someone travel to a country where it was legal constituted aiding a suicide, Mark Everall QC, for the local authority, told the court.
The authority alerted the police and obtained a temporary injunction stopping Mr Z from taking his wife abroad until a psychiatrist had assessed whether she was mentally competent and acting of her own free will.
The judge said: "The evidence clearly establishes that she has legal capacity and that her decision is her own, freely arrived at with full knowledge of its consequences. The court is not entitled to test that decision against what the court thinks is right. The right and responsibility for such a decision belongs alone to Mrs Z."
He added: "The court should not frustrate indirectly the rights of Mrs Z. The role of Mr Z is now a matter for the criminal justice agencies."
It will now be up to the director of public prosecutions, Ken Macdonald, to decide what, if any, action to take against Mr Z.
In a similar case in January 2003, when Reginald Crew, a 74 year old man with motor neurone disease, ended his life at the Swiss clinic, police from Merseyside travelled to Zurich and questioned clinic staff. They are also thought to have questioned Mr Crew抯 wife, Win, who accompanied him, but no prosecution was brought (BMJ 2003;326:242).(BMJ Clare Dyer legal corr)