Handing down reasons for ruling Cape Town advocate Robin Stransham-Ford had the right to commit medically assisted suicide, Judge Hans Fabricius said the topic deserved broad discussion in the context of the Bill of Rights.
The SA Law Commission submitted a report about euthanasia to the health minister 16 years ago, but it was never considered because of other urgent matters requiring attention.
Fabricius turned down an application by the justice and health ministers, the Health Professions Council and the National Prosecuting Authority to rescind the order because Stransham-Ford died hours before the order was granted last Thursday.
An application for leave to appeal against the court order will be argued next month.
Fabricius said persons must be regarded as recipients of rights, not objects of statutory mechanisms without any say in the matter.
The current legal position was established in a pre-constitutional era and the law required development to give effect to the applicant’s constitutional rights.
It was a fundamental right to be able to die with dignity, which the courts were obliged to advance. The sacredness of the quality of life should be accentuated, rather than the sacredness of life per se, he added.
