Assisted suicide order stands – judge

The court order allowing Cape Town Advocate Robin Stransham-Ford to commit medically assisted suicide will stand, even though he died hours before the order was handed down, notes a report in The Citizen. Judge Hans Fabricius yesterday turned down an application by the Justice and Health Ministers, the NPA and the Health Professions Council to rescind the order he granted to Stransham-Ford last week. Counsel for the respondents argued that Stransham-Ford had died at 8am on Thursday morning, before Fabricius granted the order. This meant, it was argued, that Stransham-Ford’s rights had fallen away and that the order was moot. Counsel for the HPCSA, Harry van Bergen, argued that Stransham-Ford’s lawyers ‘were shifting the goal posts’ because they were now taking the application beyond the boundaries of the original application.