- Title
- Euthanasia: a modern legal perspective
- Creator
- Welgemoed, Marc
- Subject
- Right to die -- Law and legislation -- South Africa Terminally ill -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa
- Subject
- Euthanasia -- South Africa Assisted suicide -- South Africa
- Date Issued
- 2013
- Date
- 2013
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- LLM
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/45849
- Identifier
- vital:39222
- Description
- Euthanasia and assisted suicide is currently illegal in South Africa and amounts to murder. Despite the fact that South Africa has a Constitution, including a Bill of Rights, as well as strong lobbying in favour of the legalization of euthanasia, no legal changes have been effected. Other issues closely intricated with euthanasia, like the so-called “living wills” and palliative care, where an increase of medication can possibly shorten the lifespan of a patient (“double-effect”-medication), are also problematic at the moment. The South African Law Commission has made recommendations regarding the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide, as well as the validity of living wills and “double-effect” palliative care practices as far back as 1997, but to present none of the recommendations had been adhered to. The only indication in favour of the toleration of euthanasia and assisted suicide is that the courts have handed down lenient sentences in cases of this nature. In this treatise the legal position in South Africa is compared to that applicable in the Netherlands and in Canada in an attempt to see whether or not South Africa can learn something from these countries as far as the development of its own legal system, relating to euthanasia, is concerned. The Termination of End of Life Decisions and Assisted Suicide Act is applicable in the Netherlands and legalizes euthanasia and assisted suicide subject to strict requirements being complied with. Although euthanasia is illegal in Canada, the courts have recently shown a noteworthy human rights approach that almost resulted in the legal position in the province of British Columbia being changed. It will be submitted that South Africa must take thorough note of these two foreign legal systems, as well as of the recommendations of the South African Law Commission and the Bill of Rights, especially the rights to life, dignity, equality and freedom and security of the person.
- Format
- ii, 65 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Law
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
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NMMU Department of Public Law
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Marc Welgemoed.pdf | 350 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |