Hodge Jones & Allen supports appeal to legalise assisted dying
Civil Liberties partner Nancy Collins is representing Humanists UK in its intervention in the case of Noel Conway to be heard at the High Court next week (17-20 July).
Mr Conway, has motor neurone disease, a terminal and degenerative illness. He seeks a change to the law which prohibits assisted dying. In particular he seeks a declaration that the current law is incompatible with his rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 (Article 8, right to respect for private and family life and Article 14, prohibition on discrimination). Mr Conway is asking the court to make assisted dying legal for terminally ill people with six months or fewer to live.
Humanists UK was given permission to intervene in the case in recognition of its long supported attempts to legalise assisted dying across the UK and its particular expertise on these matters. Humanists UK wholly supports Mr Conway’s case and seeks to build upon the arguments he advances.
Humanists UK Chief Executive Andrew Copson said in the press that the deliberate extension of suffering as a matter of public policy is ‘a stain on our humanity’.
Nancy Collins is working with Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC and Graeme Hall of Doughty Street Chambers. She said that HJA were pleased to be involved in such an important case.
“It is deeply concerning that individuals continue to endure painful and undignified deaths in circumstances where medically qualified professionals can in theory bring about an easeful death but face the risk of criminal sanctions if they do so. There is strong public support for a change in the law and we hope that the court will seize the opportunity to grapple with this complex issue and bring about a change” she said
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For further information, please contact:
Kerry Jack or Nicola Pearson at Black Letter Communications
kerry.jack@blacklettercommunications.co.uk or Nicola.pearson@blacklettercommunications.co.uk
020 3567 1208
Notes for Editors
Hodge Jones and Allen
- Hodge Jones and Allen is one of the UK’s most progressive law firms, renowned for doing things differently and fighting injustice. Its managing partner is Patrick Allen, recently awarded a lifetime achievement award by Solicitors Journal.
- For 40 years’ the firm has been at the centre of many of the UK’s landmark legal cases that have changed the lives and rights of many people.
- The firm’s team of specialists have been operating across: Personal Injury, Medical Negligence, Industrial Disease, Civil Liberties, Criminal Defence, Court of Protection, Dispute Resolution, Employment, Family Law, Military Claims, Serious Fraud, Social Housing, Wills & Probate and Property Disputes.
- In 2016, the firm launched Hearing their voices – a campaign to raise awareness and build conversations around the issues and the injustices we might all face.