R v Cox
A consultant who gave a terminally ill patient a lethal injection of potassium chloride, at her request, to end her suffering, was convicted of attempted murder, because his primary purpose was to end her life.
Facts
Mrs Boyes, an elderly patient, was suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis and was in extreme pain, which could not be controlled by painkillers. She repeatedly asked her consultant, Dr Cox, to end her life. Dr Cox injected her with potassium chloride, which has no therapeutic or pain relieving effect and which stops the heart, and she died shortly afterwards. Because her body had been cremated, the cause of death could not be established, and he was charged with attempted murder.
Legal principle
Ognall J directed the jury that, if Dr Cox's primary purpose was to hasten Mrs Boyes's death, he was guilty, whatever his motive, and that the law does not permit a doctor to kill a patient, even at the patient's request. He distinguished the administration of painkillers, which may have the incidental effect of shortening life, from the injection of a substance whose only purpose was to kill. Dr Cox was convicted of attempted murder and given a suspended sentence of imprisonment. The General Medical Council allowed him to continue practising. The case illustrates the line between lawful palliative care and unlawful killing.
Related cases on end of life decisions
- Re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) [2001] Fam 147
- Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v James [2013] UKSC 67, [2014] AC 591
- Airedale NHS Trust v Bland [1993] AC 789
- Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust v Evans [2018] EWHC 308 (Fam)
- An NHS Trust v Y [2018] UKSC 46, [2019] AC 978
- Re B (A Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) [1981] 1 WLR 1421
- Glass v United Kingdom (2004) 39 EHRR 15
- Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust v Yates [2017] EWHC 972 (Fam)
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