The latest stage of Omid’s legal case to be allowed an assisted death in the UK was heard in the High Court on 7/8th March 2018. The Daily Mail reported it here. Omid’s legal team argued for the right to cross-examine expert witnesses – in particular to question the written evidence given by Baroness Ilora [...]
The BBC report the case of 81 yr old Brenda Grant who was kept alive for 22 months by artificial feeding, against the instructions in her Advance Decision, (AD), because the AD had been mislaid in her medical notes. The case is horrifying. People write ADs in order to refuse treatment at the end of [...]
The Daily Telegraph has been following another case relating to assisted suicide / murder. Pharmacist Bipin Desai was accused of giving his 85 year old father a lethal drink containing concentrated morphine stolen from the pharmacy where he worked. The high court judge threw out the charge of murder, allowing Mr Desai to go free [...]
The Daily Mail recently reported a case of a 74 year old woman in a minimally conscious state, whose daughter has won a court case to have her mother's life support turned off. The NHS Trust involved, acting in the patient's "best interests", wished to continue treatment, but this was over-ruled by the judge. It [...]
Omid T suffers from Multiple Systems Atrophy. An incurable condition which has permanently reduced his quality of life below the level he is able to accept. It is not a terminal condition - he may have to continue suffering against his will for many years. Omid is taking legal action to request medical assistance to [...]
The BBC, and a number of newspapers, (see the Ayrshire Post), report the story of Ian Gordon who smothered his wife of 46 years with a pillow as "a final act of love" to relieve her pain and suffering. Did he do the right thing? The judge's explanation in sentencing, though interesting, doesn't really help. [...]
In a landmark ruling a judge has ruled that in future, in decisions concerning the withdrawal of life-support, including artificial feeding and hydration, a judge's consent is no longer required in cases where medical opinion and relative's wishes agree that the cessation is in the patient's best interests. The story is reported widely, including by [...]
Today a new legal case to challenge the law on assisted dying is seeking financial backing. Please can you help! The law firm Bindmans are representing 'Omid' who was diagnosed with the incurable illness, Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), in 2014. He is now largely confined to bed, has to wear a catheter bag and needs [...]
Rational Suicide in the Elderly: Clinical, Ethical, and Sociocultural Aspects by Robert E. McCue (Editor), Meera Balasubramaniam (Editor) Springer 2017 (8th Oct 2016) An entire book devoted to the better understanding or Rational Suicide in the Elderly was essential reading for MDMD (Our name was formerly SOARS: Society for Old Age Rational Suicide). We were [...]
Today MDMD issued the following press release: My Death, My Decision is pleased that, with support from Dignity in Dying, (DiD), Noel Conway, who is most unfortunately terminally ill with motor neurone disease, has begun judicial review proceedings, claiming that the failure of Parliament to amend the present Suicide Act, to permit him to have [...]