On 25 February, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, launched the Policy for Prosecutors in respect of cases of Encouraging or Assisting Suicide.
The new parenthood provisions set out in Part 2 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 have been attacked as dangerous and radical, offering a 'lego-kit model of family life' and a 'magical mystery tour' in how legal fatherhood is to be determined. In this paper, we explain what is innovative about these new provisions but also explore what they owe to deep-rooted traditional assumptions about the family. Relying both on published documentation relating to this reform process and a small number of key actor interviews, we trace the imprint of what Fineman has described as the 'sexual family' model on the provisions. We conclude that the way that parenthood is framed within the legislation relies on a number of important normative assumptions which received very little scrutiny in this process. We also highlight a number of tensions within this framing which, we suggest, may create future problems for judicial determination.
Abortion on demand for some women will be legal for the first time in Spain from next July. The controversial law that allows women to have an abortion without restrictions during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy was approved in the Senate last Wednesday by a majority of six votes. Representatives of the Spanish Socialist Party and feminist groups welcomed the law, which was promoted by the socialist government. They described it as a "historic step" in the fight for women’s rights. Spain’s president, José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero, said that from now on "it won’t be possible to send women to prison for interrupting their pregnancy." He added that the previous law had been an advance at the time but that "lately it has caused some problems."
This Legal Guidance has been agreed in consultation with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Department of Health (DH). Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions said: "We were made aware of rising concerns among pharmacists' professional bodies in relation to prosecuting offences under the Medicines Act 1968 where a dispensing error has occurred. The MHRA subsequently approached us with a view to creating guidance for prosecutors and we have worked together to reach agreement. "We welcome this cooperation between our departments and believe that this Legal Guidance will ensure high quality decision making and consistency of approach when prosecutors come to consider such cases."
WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “death panels,” Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1. Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.
An attempt to change the law in Scotland to help terminally ill people end their lives has been heavily defeated in the Scottish Parliament. The End of Life Assistance Bill was proposed by the MSP Margo MacDonald, who has Parkinson’s disease, but was rejected by 85 votes to 16. It would have made it legal to help someone over the age of 16 years who is terminally ill or permanently incapacitated to take their own life. It follows a detailed examination of the issue by the Scottish parliament, which set up a special committee to investigate the proposal. It took evidence from doctors, religious groups, and legal experts from around the world including Oregon and the Netherlands where physician assisted suicide has been legalised.
Soutenu par le PS, le PCF et une partie de l'UMP, le texte a été adopté en commission. Les uns y voient une avancée notable, les autres une cause d'inquiétude. La commission des affaires sociales du Sénat a adopté, mardi 18 janvier, une proposition de loi visant à instaurer « un droit à demander une assistance médicale pour mourir » pour les patients en phase terminale. La proposition de loi, qui sera discutée en séance le 25 janvier, a été adoptée par 25 voix contre 19 et 2 abstentions. C'est la première fois qu'un texte autorisant l'euthanasie franchit cette étape parlementaire.
Wales has moved a step closer to being the first part of the United Kingdom to introduce an opt-out scheme for organ donation. A proposed legislative competence order (a form of secondary legislation) relating to organ and tissue donation has been laid before the Welsh Assembly. The aim of the order is to transfer specific powers from the UK parliament to the assembly in relation to consent to organ donation. It would allow Welsh ministers to introduce a system of presumed consent to organ donation. Edwina Hart, the assembly’s minister for health, said, “We would do that in order to increase the number of potential organs available for transplantation.
The number of patients in Israel who die while waiting for a transplant rose last year, and the number of transplantations fell by 20%, the annual report of the Ministry of Health’s National Transplant and Organ Donation Centre has said. As a result the shortage of organs has become more acute. Rafi Biar, chairman of the centre’s steering committee and director of the Rambam Medical Centre in Haifa, said that the main cause of the decrease is a new law that changed the protocol for defining “brain death” after discussions with the Chief Rabbinate. According to Jewish law death can be determined only after cardiopulmonary failure, and until recently the Chief Rabbinate had prohibited organ donation, as it did not recognise brain stem death. However, in 2008 the Israeli parliament passed a law that defines “brain respiratory” death as an indication of death for all legal purposes and also outlined the procedure that should be carried out to ensure that death had occurred.
SENATE BILL NO. 167 INTRODUCED BY A. BLEWETT A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT ALLOWING A TERMINALLY ILL PATIENT TO REQUEST MEDICATION TO END THE PATIENT'S LIFE; ESTABLISHING PROCEDURES; PROVIDING THE RIGHT TO RESCIND THE REQUEST; PROVIDING DEFINITIONS; PROVIDING IMMUNITY FOR PERSONS PARTICIPATING IN GOOD FAITH COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROCEDURES; PROVIDING RULEMAKING AUTHORITY; AND PROVIDING AN IMMEDIATE EFFECTIVE DATE."