A HUMAN RIGHTS APPROACH TO END OF LIFE?

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AT THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract

Medically assisted death (“MAD”) has, to date, only been accepted as a right in a limited number of countries. The main goal of this article is to address the evolution of MAD in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) through a comparative analysis. This paper analyses the development of the law governing MAD in the European Convention on Human Rights (the “European Convention”),1 and discusses whether a right to death with dignity is emerging within the European Convention framework. This paper focuses on the legal rights of those suffering from terminal illnesses with no chance of improvement in sight. It seeks to understand whether the rights enshrined in the European Convention for an interpretation that would allow MAD. Finally, this paper seeks to demonstrate that a right to a MAD may be recognized within the framework of the European Convention. However, the paper acknowledges that the right to MAD which may ultimately be recognized by the ECtHR is unlikely to impose a positive obligation upon the signatory states of the European Convention.