YESTERDAY, MS SUFFERER Marie Fleming lost her bid to be allowed to end her own life with the help of her partner.
Fleming, 59, had sought to overturn the ban on assisted suicide on the grounds that it was invalid under the Constitution and argued that the ban breached the European Convention on Human Rights.
It is a criminal offence to help someone else to end their life but in court yesterday, Mrs Justice Susan Denham said that there was nothing to stop the Oireachtas from legislating to deal with cases such as Marie Fleming’s, once it was happy that appropriate safeguards could be introduced.
Some may welcome the situation as it would enable people like Fleming to end their life if they choose. However, others could argue that it is morally unacceptable to help others to end their life, and that medical advances may mean that a terminally ill person could see an improvement in their quality of life in the future.
Should the government legislate for assisted suicide, if it is happy that safeguards could be introduced?
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