Hungary Has the Right to Ban Assisted Suicide, Europe’s Top Human Rights Court Rules

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that Hungary, like all other sovereign European countries, has the right to impose an absolute ban on assisted suicide.

The ruling arose in the case of Daniel Karsai v. Hungary, brought by Hungarian national Daniel Karsai who suffers from advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for which there is currently no cure. The plaintiff wanted to be able to decide when and how to die before his illness progresses to an intolerable stage. Karsai also complained he was being discriminated against because terminally ill patients in Hungary can ask for life-sustaining treatment to be stopped.

In its June 13 decision, the ECHR ruled 6-1 that Hungary’s prohibition on assisted suicide does not violate Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights or Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with Article 8 of the Convention.

“The Court observed that there were potentially broad social implications and risks of error and abuse involved in the provision of physician-assisted dying, “ the ECHR registrar of the court said in a June 13 press release summarizing the case.

“As regards the alleged discrimination, the Court found that the refusal or withdrawal of treatment in end-of-life situations was intrinsically linked to the right to free and informed consent, rather than to a right to be helped to die, and was widely recognized and endorsed by the medical profession, and also laid down in the Council of Europe’s Oviedo Convention,” the press statement explained.

Intervening in the case together with the UK-based NGO Care Not Killing, ADF International argued that Hungary’s ban on assisted suicide is consistent with the state’s obligation to protect life in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

“Although we deeply empathize with Mr. Karsai’s condition and support his right to receive the best care and relief possible, it is clear from other jurisdictions that a right to die quickly becomes a duty to die,” Jean-Paul Van De Walle, legal counsel for ADF International said in a statement welcoming the court’s ruling.

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