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Alex Ruck Keene and Annabel Lee involved in a major judicial review of the ban on assisted dying

Alex Ruck Keene and Annabel Lee are involved in a major judicial review of the ban on assisted dying, led by Richard Gordon QC, and instructed by Irwin Mitchell LLP.

In the first claim since Parliament considered the matter in 2015, the judicial review challenges the compatibility of section 2(1) Suicide Act with the Human Rights Act 1998.  The challenge, brought on behalf of Noel Conway, a terminally ill man with motor neurone disease, is unprecedented in the nature and extent of the evidence to be put before the court, differing thereby from the case brought by Tony Nicklinson considered by the Supreme Court in 2014; the case is also different in that Mr Conway who has a terminal illness and his legal team are setting out strict criteria and clear potential safeguards to protect vulnerable people from any abuse of the system.

A decision on permission is awaited.   For more details, see the press release issued by Dignity in Dying, which is supporting Mr Conway's claim.