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Durham E-Theses Ending One's Own Life: Unjustiable Injustice BLACKBURN, REBECCA,LOUISE How to cite: BLACKBURN, REBECCA,LOUISE (2011) Ending One's Own Life: Unjustiable Injustice, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3451/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk ENDING ONE’S OWN LIFE: UNJUSTIFIABLE INJUSTICE Rebecca Louise Blackburn LLB Master of Jurisprudence Durham Law School Durham University 2011 i To the woman who has never ceased to provide her guidance, support and love. Thank you for believing in me, Mum. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ I TABLE OF LEGISLATION ................................................................................. IV TABLE OF CASES ............................................................................................... V STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT.......................................................................... VI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................... VII 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 1 1.1 Aims ............................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Structure ...................................................................................................... 4 PART ONE THE CURRENT LEGAL POSITION ............................................. 6 2. ARBITRARY DISTINCTION ONE: ................................................................ 7 LIFE-SUSTAINING TREATMENT VS. NO LIFE-SUSTAINING TREATMENT 7 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 7 2.2 The Legal Position ....................................................................................... 8 2. 3 Murder? .................................................................................................... 10 2.4 Conceptually Valid?................................................................................... 12 2.5 Morally Valid? ........................................................................................... 14 2.6 Summary ................................................................................................... 20 3. ARBITRARY DISTINCTION TWO:.............................................................. 22 PALLIATIVE CARE VS NO PALLIATIVE CARE ............................................. 22 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 22 3.2 The Legal Position ..................................................................................... 23 3.3 Morally Valid? ........................................................................................... 24 3.4 Summary ................................................................................................... 27 4. ARBITRARY DISTINCTION THREE: .......................................................... 29 ABLE-BODIED VS. DISABLED ......................................................................... 29 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 29 i 4.2 The Legal Position ..................................................................................... 30 4.2.1 Suicide ................................................................................................ 30 4.2.2 Assisted Suicide .................................................................................. 31 4.3 Can the Prohibition of Assisted Suicide be Justified? ................................. 33 4.3.1 A Failure to Fully Justify Their Decision ............................................. 36 4.3.2 Overlooking Situations Where the Vulnerable Can Already Obtain Assistance .................................................................................................... 36 4.3.3 The Focus on Society as ‗Vulnerable‘ ................................................. 36 4.4 Evidence of Unfairness .............................................................................. 39 4.4.1 The DPP's Guidelines .......................................................................... 39 4.4.2 Death Tourism .................................................................................... 44 4.5 Summary ................................................................................................... 45 PART TWO POSSIBLE JUSTIFICATIONS FOR THE CURRENT UNFAIRNESS ....................................................................................................... 47 5. AN APPEAL TO THE RIGHTS OF THE SELF .............................................. 49 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 49 5.2 Dignity as Constraint ................................................................................. 50 5.2.1 A Valid Defence? ................................................................................ 51 5.3 The Sanctity of Life ................................................................................... 54 5.3.1 Religious ............................................................................................. 55 5.3.2 Non-Religious ..................................................................................... 57 5.3.3 A Valid Defence? ................................................................................ 59 5.3.3.1 Arbitrary and Unworkable Distinctions ........................................ 59 5.3.3.2 The Law Permits the Intentional Taking of an Innocent Human Life ................................................................................................................ 68 5.4 Summary ................................................................................................... 71 6. AN APPEAL TO THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS ................................................ 72 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 72 6.2 The Logical Slippery Slope ........................................................................ 74 6.2.1 Misconceptualised ............................................................................... 76 ii 6.2.2 An Obvious Solution ........................................................................... 76 6.2.3 Doctors Will Not Necessarily be Assessing the Worth of a Patient‘s Life .................................................................................................................... 77 6.3 The Empirical Slippery Slope .................................................................... 78 6.3.1 Abortion .............................................................................................. 79 6.3.2 Other Jurisdictions .............................................................................. 81 6.4 The Bottom or the Top of the Slope: Which is Worse? ............................... 84 6.4.1 Numerical Speculation ........................................................................ 86 6.4.2 The Harm Caused to Those Requesting Assisted Suicide is Underplayed .................................................................................................................... 88 6.5 Current Legal Position ............................................................................... 89 6.6 Summary ................................................................................................... 92 7. CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................. 93 7.1 The Law is Unfair ...................................................................................... 93 7.2 The Unfairness is Unjustifiable .................................................................. 96 7.3 A Way Forward ......................................................................................... 97 BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................100 iii TABLE OF LEGISLATION Primary Abortion Act 1967 Medicines Act 1967 Coroners and Justice Act 2009 Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 Mental Capacity Act 2005 Mental Health Act 1983 Offences Against the Person Act 1861 Suicide Act 1961 Secondary Abortion Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/499) Bills Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill 2004-05 Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill 2005-06 Other Explanatory Notes to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 Council of Europe‘s Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine UNESCO‘s Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights iv TABLE OF CASES Airedale NHS Trust v Bland [1993] A.C. 789. Ann Lindsell