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assisted suicidelatest news & developments
Right to die: DignitySA founder and writer Sean Davison outside the court during his murder trial in Cape Town in 2019. Photo: Jaco Marais/ Netwerk24/Gallo Images

The right to die, warts and all

The activist professor’s second book explores the unvarnished truth behind assisted death

Once again the issue of voluntary euthanasia is before the courts, and once again the state is trying to hold back the inevitable. (John McCann/M&G)

Why I support active euthanasia

People’s morality, religion or culture should not override other people’s right to end their lives

Lawmakers had passed the so-called Paragraph 217 in November 2015, which penalises anyone who turns assisted suicide into a professional service — with or without payment. (Getty)

Germany reopens painful debate on assisted suicide

Contradictory signals have fuelled debate on an issue that has huge resonance in a fast-ageing country where the Church still exerts strong influence

David Goodall reacts during a news conference a day before he died in Basel

104-year-old scientist ends his life at Swiss clinic

David Goodall, a renowned Australian scientist, travelled to Switzerland to end his own life

Research at Stellenbosch University looks at the link between viral infections and cardiovascular disease.

Supreme Court of Appeals overturns ruling allowing “assisted dying”

In 2015, the High Court granted a terminally ill man, Robin Stransham-Ford, the right to die with dignity by way of euthanasia.

Constitutional court.

Editorial: Matter of life and death

The Constitutional Court must indeed rule on the matter of doctor-assisted dying, if only because of the need for a national rule.

Death and the high cost of living

Our health minister’s ideas on euthanasia have no place in a secular country like ours.

A terminally ill man rests at a hospice.

Assisted suicide ruling remains in force

The court order allowing Robin Stransham-Ford to end his own life will not be rescinded, even though he died two hours before the order was granted.

Terminally ill man wins right to assisted death

The Pretoria High Court has ruled that a man who suffers from terminal prostate cancer is allowed to seek help to end his life on his own terms.

France moves toward allowing euthanasia with new legislation

A new legislation states that terminally ill patients are allowed the right to ongoing sedation until death, if requested.

Thinking about a good death: Jo Beecham is suffering from incurable ovarian cancer and has decided to take an overdose to kill herself.

Choosing when I want to die

Desmond Tutu and others have commented recently on the right to euthanasia. What about self-euthanasia?

Necsa’s Pelindaba site is still active

British, French courts juggle the legalities of euthanasia

A UK court has denied two men the right to die as a French court acquits a doctor for lethal injections and another orders a comatose man kept alive.

Granting a death wish: South Africa’s euthanasia debate

Sean Davison published his story of how he assisted his mother in her wish to die. Now he’s at the centre of South Africa’s euthanasia debate.

South Africa

There is dignity in being allowed to ‘die like a dog’

Authors of nonfiction books on assisted suicide risk imprisonment, especially if the book is published in New Zealand, writes Barbara Erasmus.

Going ‘the Oregon way’

Most of us would rather not think about death. But in Oregon assisted suicides have been legal for more than 10 years.

Young rugby star chooses euthanasia

The parents of a paralysed rugby player — believed to be the youngest Briton to take his life at an assisted suicide clinic — defended his decision.

MS sufferer launches assisted suicide case

A woman with multiple sclerosis is mounting a High Court challenge to force the UK’s top prosecutor to clarify the law on assisted suicide.