Euthanasia-Assisted Suicide.

Judgment Day

July 27, 2011
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Once again, the High Court is being asked to quantify ‘enjoyment of life’. This time the vanishing point has been moved forward from the ‘futility’ of the Bland case. I am at a loss, as ever, to imagine how even those nearest and dearest to the ‘patient’ can make such a judgement. How an objective [...]

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The Right to put your family through Hell?

June 14, 2011
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I freely admit I didn’t watch the Terry Pratchett documentary on the Right to Die. At the last minute I voted in favour of a quiet glass of wine with Mr G in the setting sun. It seemed an altogether healthier way to spend my time. I have nothing against suicide; it is your life, [...]

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Live and Let Die.

June 20, 2010

In the beginning there was Adam and Eve and a big rock. Adam was much stronger than Eve. He could lift the big rock and drop it on her head. He didn’t need to threaten to do so, but Eve knew, and accepted the implied threat to her life. Adam held the power. A lot [...]

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Testementary Testosterone.

June 4, 2010

There is nothing so likely to induce a murderous rage in the most mild mannered of people as sibling rage over a last will and testament. Many a family can cite feuds going back over generations, centuries even, which commenced with the reading of the will. As children we prise precious pennies out of our [...]

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The Ribena Option.

May 27, 2010

Magna Carta, Ch 39: ‘No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or [...]

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Court of Protection: That Straw Man’s Confidence Trick Dissected.

May 18, 2010

With what aplomb did Jack Straw throw back the cloak of secrecy over proceedings in the family court last year? How we did cheer. None louder than myself. Straw, the ‘modernising’ man of Justice who eschewed the trappings and symbols of the historic Lord Chancellor’s role, said: “Family courts play a crucial role in our [...]

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Mercy Killing?

February 1, 2010

The past week has seen one mother, Frances Inglis, jailed for life for murdering a son who was in a persistent vegetative state, and another mother, Kay Gilderdale, acquitted of the attempted murder of her daughter, whose suicide she assisted. The BBC has seen fit to mark these sad events by a ‘poll‘ – ‘vote [...]

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