Auckland-born Dr Davison served five months’ home detention in Dunedin in 2011 for giving a lethal dose of morphine to his mother, Dr Pat Davison, to relieve her pain when she was dying of cancer at the age of 85.
Last week, a South African High Court judge ruled that a doctor could legally help another dying cancer patient, Johannesburg lawyer Robin Stransham-Ford, to end his life “either by administration of a lethal agent or by providing the applicant with the necessary legal agent to administer himself”.
The judgment, and a similar judgment in the Canadian Supreme Court in February, has forced the issue of euthanasia on to the political agenda of reluctant Parliaments across the English-speaking world. Continue reading