Causing death or allowing to die? Developments in the law

Journal of Medical Ethics

Volumn 23, Issue 6, 1997, Pages 368-376

  Ferguson, Pamela R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Act; Bland; Cox; Euthanasia; Johnstone; Law; Murder; Omission

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; COURT; DYING; EUTHANASIA; HOMICIDE; HUMAN; INFORMED CONSENT; INJECTION; MEDICAL DECISION MAKING; MEDICOLEGAL ASPECT; MORALITY; MOTIVATION; PERSISTENT VEGETATIVE STATE; QUALITY OF LIFE;

EID: 0031435166     PISSN: 03066800     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1136/jme.23.6.368     Document Type: Article

References (22)

1. R v Cox (1992) 12 B M L R 38.
2. He was also found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the GMC. See Dyer C. GMC tempers justice with mercy in Cox case. British Medical Journal 1992; 305: 1311.
3. An alternative state of mind for murder is that the accused intended to cause grievous bodily harm. See Smith JC, Hogan B. Criminal law. London: Butterworths, 1996: 357. Scots law is similar in requiring an intention to kill. See Gordon GH. The criminal law of Scotland. Edinburgh: W Green and Son Ltd, 1978: para 23-10.
4. An alternative state of mind for murder is that the accused intended to cause grievous bodily harm. See Smith JC, Hogan B. Criminal law. London: Butterworths, 1996: 357. Scots law is similar in requiring an intention to kill. See Gordon GH. The criminal law of Scotland. Edinburgh: W Green and Son Ltd, 1978: para 23-10.
5. R v Arthur British Medical Journal 1981; 283: 1340. Transcript 26 D-E, cited in Skegg PDG. Law, ethics and medicine. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984: 130, emphasis added.
6. R v Arthur British Medical Journal 1981; 283: 1340. Transcript 26 D-E, cited in Skegg PDG. Law, ethics and medicine. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984: 130, emphasis added.
7. Since Mrs Boyes had been cremated, the prosecuting authorities were unable to establish whether she had in fact died as a result of the doctor's injection, or from her pre-existing illness.
8. This assumes that the patient is an adult and is mentally competent. For a consideration of the law where the patient is not competent, see In re T (Adult: Refusal of Treatment) [1992] 3 W L R 782 and Gostin L. Consent to treatment: the incapable person. In Dyer C, ed. Doctors, patients and the law. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1992. For cases involving severely handicapped children, see Re J (a minor) (medical treatment) (1992) 9 B M L R 10, and Re C (a baby) [1996] 2 F L R 43 and [1996] Fam Law 533, discussed in Ferguson PR, Bissett-Johnson A. The withdrawal and withholding of medical treatment. Family Law 1996; 26: 563-65.
9. This assumes that the patient is an adult and is mentally competent. For a consideration of the law where the patient is not competent, see In re T (Adult: Refusal of Treatment) [1992] 3 W L R 782 and Gostin L. Consent to treatment: the incapable person. In Dyer C, ed. Doctors, patients and the law. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1992. For cases involving severely handicapped children, see Re J (a minor) (medical treatment) (1992) 9 B M L R 10, and Re C (a baby) [1996] 2 F L R 43 and [1996] Fam Law 533, discussed in Ferguson PR, Bissett-Johnson A. The withdrawal and withholding of medical treatment. Family Law 1996; 26: 563-65.
10. [1957] Crim L R 365.
11. Emphases added. A detailed account of the trial is given by Lord Devlin in Easing the passing: the trial of Dr John Bodkin Adams. London: Faber and Faber Ltd, 1986.
12. Hall C. Case highlights medical dilemma of terminally ill. The Independent 1990 Mar 16: 4.
13. Airedale NHS Trust v Bland [1993] A C 789; [1993] 1 All E R 821. [1994] 1 F C R 485.
14. Law Hospital NHS Trust v Lord Advocate, 1996 S L T 848. See also the Irish case of In the Matter of a Ward (1995) 2 I L R M 401.
15. See McLean SAM. End-of-life decisions and the law. Journal of Medical Ethics 1996; 22: 261-2. For English law cases which have followed Bland, see Frenchay Healthcare Trust v S [1994] 1 W L R 601; [1994] 2 All E R 403; Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust v S [1995] 3 Med L Rev 84 and Re G (Persistent Vegetative State) [1995] 2 F C R 46.
16. [1993] AC 789 at 882A.
17. 1996 SLT 848 at 852L.
18. See reference 14: 859F.
19. Jennett B. Letting vegetative patients die. British Medical Journal 1992; 305: 1305-6, at 1305.
20. See reference 13: 885G.
21. [1993] AC 789 at 887B-C.
22. Beloff J. Killing or letting die? Is there a valid moral distinction? Newsletter. Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Scotland, 1993 Jan: 4-5, emphasis added.