Assisted suicide ban cannot be diluted even in 'harrowing' case of MS sufferer

The Irish Times - Friday, January 11, 2013

MARY CAROLAN

The absolute ban on assisted suicide is fully justified under the Constitution to protect the most vulnerable in society and cannot be diluted even in the harrowing case of a woman terminally ill with multiple sclerosis, the High Court has ruled.

However, the three-judge court said it was sure the DPP would act in a humane and sensitive way in considering whether to prosecute any assisted suicide of Marie Fleming.

Giving the courts judgment, president of the High Court Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, with Mr Justice Paul Carney and Mr Justice Gerard Hogan, said unravelling even a thread of the ban, by even a limited constititional finding in favour of Ms Fleming, would, or might, open a Pandoras box which thereafter would be impossible to close.

Fundamental objective

The State is committed under the Constitution to protecting the sanctity of all human life and valuing equally the life of all persons. The ban was rationally connected to that fundamental objective and not remotely based on arbitrary, unfair or irrational considerations.

In the eyes of the Constitution, the last days of the life of a terminally ill and disabled patient facing death have the same value, possess the same intrinsic human dignity and naturally enjoy the same protection as the life of the healthy young person . . .

Even with the most rigorous safeguards, it would be impossible to ensure the aged, the disabled, the poor, the unwanted, the rejected, the lonely, the impulsive, the financially compromised and emotionally vulnerable would not avail of this option in order to avoid a sense of being a burden on their family and society.

If doctors could hasten deaths of the terminally ill, this might send a subliminal message to vulnerable groups that, to avoid consuming scarce resources amid shrinking public funds for healthcare, physician-assisted suicide was a normal option to be considered.

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Assisted suicide ban cannot be diluted even in 'harrowing' case of MS sufferer