Three assisted-death cases to be taken to court
THREE more terminally ill patients are set to take their plight for assisted deaths to the High Court in Pretoria, following in the footsteps of Robin Stransham-Ford, who achieved a successful ruling in that court recently.
Dignity SA spokeswoman Lee Last told The Star’s sister paper, the Cape Times, that the organisation, which had supported Stransham-Ford in court, was preparing three new cases with the aim of changing the constitutional law to allow assisted deaths for terminally ill people.
“After Robin’s success, we now have three more cases. These are urgent matters and they will be presented in court soon,” Last said.
She said Dignity SA was protecting the identities of the applicants from the media.
Judge Hans Fabricius granted the order two hours after Stransham-Ford died on April 30. He has refused an application by the government to rescind the order.
The government is expected to apply for leave to appeal against thet judgment on June 2.
Dignity SA founder Professor Sean Davison said: “Parliament is guided by the courts. We cannot have the one saying you will go to jail for assisted deaths and the other saying it can be allowed.”
Davison, who served a fivemonth detention in New Zealand in 2010 after he helped his 85-year-old mother in an assisted death, said Dignity SA aimed to keep the momentum going from the Stransham-Ford case.
“We want to create considerable momentum. I have no doubt even more patients will come forward,” he said.
That reality has become a bane for the Department of Justice and Correctional Services.
“What is happening is evidence that our concerns were real. We feared more people would come forward, and our stance has not changed. We have the same reservations, but each case has its own merits which need to be considered,” spokesman advocate Mthunzi Mhaga said.
Health Department spokesman Joe Maila said: “We’ll be appealing the Stransham-Ford ruling, and will of course be standing by the law with regard to future cases.”