Woman accused of Assisting Suicide

Mr. Perfect

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1120/487925-gail-ororke-court/
http://www.herald.ie/news/courts/travel-agent-raised-the-alarm-over-suicide-trip-28003717.html

This is surely a sick joke. Prosecuting is simply a waste of tax payers money, unless <read to the end>

The travel agent who contacted the Gardaí should be ashamed of themselves. Able bodied people can take their own life so why can't someone who's terminally ill.

They should were possible try to make arrangements which achieve the end result without the necessity to involve other people but in this case she was going to Switzerland for that precise purpose.

I can't help thinking a big reason why a person has been charged is because there was money involved, we shall see.

Either way this trial will set the bar where these situations are concerned.

hullaballoo

Rule No. 2 of the charter applies in particular to this thread. Please see here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057083888#3.

I'm not sure where that leaves any potential discussion, but there you go.

Sala

This case will clarify a lot whatever happens.

Pat Mustard

Mr. Perfect wrote: »

The travel agent who contacted the Gardaí should be ashamed of themselves.

Irish Times article

It seems to me that the issue should be with the legislation, rather than with the person who made the complaint to Gardai.

P_1

The legislation strikes me as being somewhat similar to the legislation that instigated the X case. Without going into detail on the case I would have thought that preventing somebody from leaving the country when they haven't committed a crime was illegal/contrary to EU legislation?

Bepolite

Sala wrote: »

This case will clarify a lot whatever happens.

Really? I'm not sure many of the cases up until now have done much to clarify the situation.

Bepolite

P_1 wrote: »

The legislation strikes me as being somewhat similar to the legislation that instigated the X case. Without going into detail on the case I would have thought that preventing somebody from leaving the country when they haven't committed a crime was illegal/contrary to EU legislation?

The ECHR/EU doesn't see an issue with abortion, they do take issue with assisted suicide. It clearly more likely to be an issue when ever someone come back in to Ireland, so I take your point on that front.

Something is niggling at the back of my mind that although suicide is now legal conspiracy surrounding one is not, I might have that arseways however!

P_1

Bepolite wrote: »

The ECHR/EU doesn't see an issue with abortion, they do take issue with assisted suicide. It clearly more likely to be an issue when ever someone come back in to Ireland, so I take your point on that front.

Something is niggling at the back of my mind that although suicide is now legal conspiracy surrounding one is not, I might have that arseways however!

I think you're right, a quick glance at the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act, 1993 suggests that somebody is liable to be prosecuted if they help somebody commit suicide so I'd imagine a conspiracy surrounding one (like a suicide pact or assisted suicide) would still be considered illegal. Now I'm not too sure if that applies to the person who intends to commit suicide though.

Sala

Bepolite wrote: »

Really? I'm not sure many of the cases up until now have done much to clarify the situation.

They were completely different. This is the first prosecution. The others were seeking a change in the law in advance of doing anything so those assisting would not be prosecuted

Big C

Gilmore's statement on looking at legislation is to be welcomed, I hope when the current case before the court is finished gilmore wont forget about this issue

JamesLaw

Usually in England they turn a blind eye to this.. once done for the right reasons. Interesting area of the law though, will be good to see how it works out. I think clarification is needed. Scotland (if memory serves me correctly) are dealing with an Assisted Suicide Bill, I must check that out!

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

P_1

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Very true, I'm assuming that the travel agent noticed the lady in question booking a one way ticket to Zurich and seeing her condition it raised a few red flags. YOu wouldn't have that happen on a website.

Interesting hypothetical question though. Would the staff of an airline have a duty to inform the police if somebody with a terminal illness arrive at the airport with a one way ticket to Switzerland?

hullaballoo

I've changed the thread title to better reflect the nature of this case. "Woman accused of Assisted Assisting Suicide".

Carawaystick

Have Tom Curran and the barristers for Marie Flemming not ran very close to this law? Tom has aided an attempt at suicide; what do barristers do if not counsel?

johnnyskeleton

Carawaystick wrote: »

Have Tom Curran and the barristers for Marie Flemming not ran very close to this law? Tom has aided an attempt at suicide; what do barristers do if not counsel?

Their defence is "absolute privilege" ie that speaking in court as a lawyer cannot attract civil or criminal liability unless maliciously done. Otherwise every constitutional challenge/judicial review would be sedition.