As the law stands, health practitioners who assist patients in dying will face the consequences before the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) as this is regarded as unethical.
MURDER or Mercy?
South Africans have long debated abortion, same-sex marriage and the death penalty. Now the country's courts are being asked to confront another life-changing question: does the Constitution protect the right of a terminally ill person to choose medical assistance in dying?
That question now sits before the Gauteng High Court after DignitySA launched a constitutional challenge to have South Africa's blanket common-law prohibition on medical assistance in dying declared unconstitutional.
The organisation argues that forcing terminally ill people to continue living with unbearable suffering infringes on their constitutional rights to dignity, bodily and psychological integrity, equality and life.
