Archive for May, 2014

In a dramatic case that touched on the burning issue of whether individuals have the right to choose death over life, a family judge was called into action in the middle of the night to save the life of a teenage girl after she overdosed on paracetamol. The on-call judge had received an anguished call close to midnight from a solicitor representing an NHS Trust. The 17-year-old’s life was hanging by a thread as she ‘firmly resisted’ emergency treatment, saying that she was determined to die. Although she had a history of self-harm and mental illness, the judge was ‘not satisfied’ that she did not have capacity to choose for herself. However, he ruled that her right to life – enshrined in Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights – was paramount and opened the way for medics to ... Read more