Terminally ill people cannot approach the courts and ask for the right to die after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) upheld the government's appeal against a high court judgment.
Euthanasia advocate Robin Stransham-Ford had won the right to have doctor-assisted suicide last year‚ but died two hours before the ruling was given.
Stransham-Ford‚ who had terminal cancer‚ argued that his constitutional rights to dignity and bodily integrity were impaired because he was in pain and unable to look after himself.
North Gauteng High Court Judge Hans Fabricius ordered that he had the right to die with a doctor’s help‚ and that the doctor would not face sanction. The departments of health and justice‚ and the Health Professions Council of SA appealed this.
The SCA on Tuesday upheld the state's appeal‚ saying it was not the high court’s job to make new laws - due to the separation of powers doctrine. That duty rests with Parliament.
The SCA said it would “welcome” Parliament being involved in a debate about doctor-assisted suicide.
The SCA judgment found that the issues about choosing when to die were “engaging profound moral questions beyond the remit of judges to determine‚ [and] should be decided by the representatives of the people of the country as a whole”.
The case attracted widespread interested with multiple NGOs joining as friends of the court to argue on the issue.
– TMG Digital/The Times
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