Assisted Suicide Legal Challenge

News James Strachan QC, Alexander Ruck Keene, Benjamin Tankel, Annabel Lee 12th October 2017

The High Court has handed down judgment in R (Conway) v Secretary of State for Justice [2017] EWHC 2447 in which it rejected the latest legal challenge to the prohibition on assisted suicide. The claim was brought by Mr Conway, a 67 year old man with Motor Neurone Disease (“MND”). When he has six months or less to live, he wished to have the option to end his own life with assistance from a medical professional. He argued that the current blanket prohibition on assisted suicide was incompatible with his right to a private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court concluded that the current ban was a necessary and proportionate interference with Mr Conway’s rights.

Alex Ruck Keene and Annabel Lee (led by Richard Gordon QC) represented the claimant Mr Conway.

James Strachan QC and Ben Tankel represented the defendant Secretary of State.

The judgment is available here in full.

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Related Barristers

James Strachan QC

Alexander Ruck Keene

Benjamin Tankel

Annabel Lee