High court to revisit euthanasia law

TERMINAL: DUO ASKS FOR MERCY KILLINGS TO BECOME LEGAL IN SA

Terminal duo asks for mercy killing to become legal in SA.

SA Health Professions Council among those opposing application.

An atheist advocate and doctor have added their voices to a crucial legal challenge to determine whether euthanasia should be legalised in South Africa.

The last time the issue was raised in court in South Africa was in 2015, when lawyer Robert Stransham-Ford, who was dying, launched an urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria for an order that a doctor be legally entitled to give him a lethal dose to end his life.

It was an individual application, not done in the public interest. Judge Hans Fabricius ruled in his favour, but Stransham-Ford died naturally, hours before the judgment.

The case went to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), the state respondents fearing a precedent.

In essence, the SCA ruled this was not the right matter to develop the common law, that Fabricius’ ruling was moot and had no effect since Stansham-Ford had died already.

Now, medical doctor Suzanne Walter, a palliative care specialist, and her patient Diethelm Harck, who have both been diagnosed with terminal diseases, are hoping to persuade High Court in Johannesburg Judge Raylene Keightly to develop the law to allow both physician-assisted suicide (PAS), where the doctor prescribes and the patient self-administers, and physician-assisted euthanasia (PAE), where the doctor administers any medicine to end life.

The matter is set down for hearing on 22 February and is expected to start with the evidence of Walter, who was diagnosed in February 2017 with multiple myeloma, and Harck, who was diagnosed in 2013 with motor neuron disease.

In pleadings they both say they are suffering “torturing symptoms”.

While it is not unlawful for them to commit suicide, they fear they will not be capable of swallowing pills or self-administering medication.

If a willing doctor were to help them, he or she would face criminal charges and would also face being struck off the roll by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) for unprofessional conduct.

They say the law as it stands and the attitude of the HPCSA impinge on their right to dignity, right to live a life and choose the way they want to die.

They want parliament to enact legislation to give effect to their rights to self-determination.

In the meantime, they say, the court should rule that any mentally competent terminally ill person may approach the high court for an order allowing them to undergo either PAS or PAE.

Joining their cause as friends of the court are Advocate Bruce Leech and Dr Paul Rowe, both atheists.

In an affidavit filed with the court, Leech says: “Christian values are imposed directly and indirectly on people who do not necessarily share those values. I do not share these beliefs and neither does Dr Rowe.”

The HPCSA, the ministers of health and justice and the national director of public prosecutions are opposing the application.

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Not illegal to commit suicide but may need help