Refusing Life-Prolonging Medical Treatment and the ECHR

TY - JOUR

T1 - Refusing Life-Prolonging Medical Treatment and the ECHR

AU - Black, Isra

N1 - © The Author(s) 2018. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

PY - 2018/6/1

Y1 - 2018/6/1

N2 - This article considers the content of the right to refuse life-prolonging medical treatment under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as well as the supervision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) of domestic legal regimes for refusing life-prolonging treatment. I argue, employing doctrinal and philosophical analyses, that developments in the Convention jurisprudence with regard to the protection of private life under article 8 ECHR imply a substantively extensive right to refuse life-prolonging treatment, both contemporaneously and in advance. Moreover, I suggest that there is sufficient consensus among Council of Europe Member States on the right to refuse life-prolonging treatment to engage ECtHR supervision of states’ legal frameworks for such refusals. In addition, or in the alternative, I advance that the Strasbourg court may scrutinise Member States’ legal arrangements for refusals of life-prolonging treatment in virtue of the positive obligations to secure respect for private life that inhere in article 8 ECHR.

AB - This article considers the content of the right to refuse life-prolonging medical treatment under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as well as the supervision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) of domestic legal regimes for refusing life-prolonging treatment. I argue, employing doctrinal and philosophical analyses, that developments in the Convention jurisprudence with regard to the protection of private life under article 8 ECHR imply a substantively extensive right to refuse life-prolonging treatment, both contemporaneously and in advance. Moreover, I suggest that there is sufficient consensus among Council of Europe Member States on the right to refuse life-prolonging treatment to engage ECtHR supervision of states’ legal frameworks for such refusals. In addition, or in the alternative, I advance that the Strasbourg court may scrutinise Member States’ legal arrangements for refusals of life-prolonging treatment in virtue of the positive obligations to secure respect for private life that inhere in article 8 ECHR.

U2 - 10.1093/ojls/gqy009

DO - 10.1093/ojls/gqy009

M3 - Article

SN - 0143-6503

VL - 38

SP - 299

EP - 327

JO - Oxford Journal of Legal Studies

JF - Oxford Journal of Legal Studies

IS - 2

ER -