{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,19]],"date-time":"2025-05-19T11:27:17Z","timestamp":1747654037746},"reference-count":13,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"6","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Med Ethics"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1997,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Several cases which have been considered by the courts in recent years have highlighted the legal dilemmas facing doctors whose decisions result in the ending of a patient's life. This paper considers the case of Dr Cox, who was convicted of attempting to murder one of his patients, and explores the roles of motive, diminished responsibility and consent in cases of \"mercy killing\". The Cox decision is compared to that of Tony Bland and Janet Johnstone, in which the patients were in a persistent vegetative state. In all three cases, the doctors believed that their patients' quality of life was so poor that their continued existence was of no benefit to them, and decided that their lives should not be unduly prolonged, yet the doctor who was prosecuted was the one whose dying patient had requested that her death be hastened. The paper examines the law's seemingly contradictory approaches to such cases.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/jme.23.6.368","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2008,11,6]],"date-time":"2008-11-06T00:48:04Z","timestamp":1225932484000},"page":"368-372","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Causing death or allowing to die? Developments in the law."],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"23","author":[{"given":"P R","family":"Ferguson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1997,12,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","article-title":"12 B M L R 38","author":"Cox, Rv","year":"1992","unstructured":"Rv Cox (1992) 12 B M L R 38."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"1311","article-title":"was also found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the GMC. See Dyer C. GMC tempers justice with mercy in Cox case","volume":"305","author":"He","year":"1992","unstructured":"He was also found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the GMC. See Dyer C. GMC tempers justice with mercy in Cox case. British Medical Journal 1992; 305: 1311.","journal-title":"British Medical Journal"},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"23","article-title":"An alternative state of mind for murder is that the accused intended to cause grievous bodily harm. See Smith JC, Hogan B. Criminal law","volume-title":"357. Scots law is similar in requiring an intention to kill. See Gordon GH. The criminal law of Scotland","author":"Edinburgh:","year":"1996","unstructured":"An alternative state of mind for murder is that the accused intended to cause grievous bodily harm. See Smith JC, Hogan B. Criminal law. London: Butterworths, 1996: 357. Scots law is similar in requiring an intention to kill. See Gordon GH. The criminal law of Scotland. Edinburgh: W Green and Son Ltd, 1978: para 23-10."},{"key":"ref_4","article-title":"British Medical Jtournal 1981; 283: 1340. Transcript 26 D-E, cited in Skegg PDG. Law, ethics and medicine","author":"v Arthur, R.","unstructured":"R v Arthur British Medical Jtournal 1981; 283: 1340. Transcript 26 D-E, cited in Skegg PDG. Law, ethics and medicine. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984: 130, emphasis added."},{"key":"ref_5","first-page":"9","article-title":"This assumes that the patient is an adult and is mentally competent. For a consideration of the law where the patient is not competent, see In re T (Adult: Refusal of Treatment) [1992] 3 W L R 782 and Gostin L. Consent to treatment: the incapable person","volume":"26","author":"CDoctors, Dyer","year":"1992","unstructured":"This assumes that the patient is an adult and is mentally competent. For a consideration of the law where the patient is not competent, see In re T (Adult: Refusal of Treatment) [1992] 3 W L R 782 and Gostin L. Consent to treatment: the incapable person. In Dyer C, ed. Doctors, patients and the law. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1992. For cases involving severely handicapped children, see Re J (a minor) (medical treatment) (1992) 9 B M L R 10, and Re C (a baby) [1996] 2 F L R 43 and [1996] Fam Law 533, discussed in Ferguson PR, Bissett-Johnson A. The withdrawal and withholding of medical treatment. Family Law 1996; 26: 563-65. 7 [1957] Crim L R 365.","journal-title":"Re J (a; B M L R 10, and Re C (a baby) [1996] 2 F L R 43 and [1996] Fam Law 533, discussed in Ferguson PR, Bissett-Johnson A. The withdrawal and withholding of medical treatment. Family Law; and the law"},{"key":"ref_6","author":"Bodkin Adams","year":"1986","unstructured":"Bodkin Adams. London: Faber and Faber Ltd, 1986."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"4","article-title":"Case highlights medical dilemma of terminally ill","volume-title":"The Independent","volume":"16","author":"Hall, C.","year":"1990","unstructured":"Hall C. Case highlights medical dilemma of terminally ill. The Independent 1990 Mar 16: 4."},{"key":"ref_8","series-title":"case of In the Matter of a Ward (1995) 2 I L R M 401","first-page":"S","article-title":"Trust v Lord Advocate","author":"Law Hospital NHS","year":"1996","unstructured":"Law Hospital NHS Trust v Lord Advocate, 1996 S L T 848. See also the Irish case of In the Matter of a Ward (1995) 2 I L R M 401."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"261","DOI":"10.1136\/jme.22.5.261","article-title":"End-of-life decisions and the law","volume":"22","author":"SAM, See McLean","year":"1996","unstructured":"See McLean SAM. End-of-life decisions and the law. _Journal of Medical Ethics 1996; 22: 261-2.","journal-title":"_Journal of Medical Ethics"},{"issue":"14","key":"ref_10","first-page":"1305","article-title":"Letting vegetative patients die","volume":"882","author":"Jennett, B.","year":"1996","unstructured":"[1993] AC 789 at 882A. 14 1996 SLT 848 at 852L. 15 See reference 14: 859F. 16 Jennett B. Letting vegetative patients die. British Medical Journal 1992; 305: 1305-6, at 1305.","journal-title":"British Medical Journal"},{"issue":"1993","key":"ref_11","first-page":"4","article-title":"BeloffJ. Killing or letting die? Is there a valid moral distinction?","volume":"18","author":"emphasis added.","year":"1993","unstructured":"See reference 13: 885G. 18 [1993] AC 789 at 887B-C. 19 BeloffJ. Killing or letting die? Is there a valid moral distinction? Newsletter. Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Scotland, 1993 Jan: 4-5, emphasis added.","journal-title":"Newsletter. Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Scotland"},{"key":"ref_12","article-title":"notes Breast cancer: research without consent The UK Breast Cancer Coalition, representing women with breast cancer from all parts of the United Kingdom, is concerned that research without consent still continues in this country. They hope for a return to the spirit of the Nuremberg Code","volume-title":"and its unequivocal statement that \"the voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential","author":"News and","year":"1947","unstructured":"News and notes Breast cancer: research without consent The UK Breast Cancer Coalition, representing women with breast cancer from all parts of the United Kingdom, is concerned that research without consent still continues in this country. They hope for a return to the spirit of the Nuremberg Code (1947) and its unequivocal statement that \"the voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential\"."},{"key":"ref_13","article-title":"The board of the coalition has endorsed the following resolution: \"We, members of the UK Breast Cancer Coalition, request the World Medical Assembly to consider our petition that the following clause be deleted from","volume-title":"the Declaration of Helsinki, as amended in 1983","unstructured":"The board of the coalition has endorsed the following resolution: \"We, members of the UK Breast Cancer Coalition, request the World Medical Assembly to consider our petition that the following clause be deleted from the Declaration of Helsinki, as amended in 1983:"}],"container-title":["Journal of Medical Ethics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/jme.23.6.368","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,23]],"date-time":"2024-05-23T18:46:09Z","timestamp":1716489969000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/jme.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/jme.23.6.368"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1997,12]]},"references-count":13,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1997,12,1]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1997,12]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/jme.23.6.368"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/jme.23.6.368","relation":{},"ISSN":["0306-6800","1473-4257"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0306-6800","type":"print"},{"value":"1473-4257","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[1997,12]]}}}