Pro-euthanasia Dignity SA challenges existing law

Sean Davison with his mother shortly before she began her hunger strike.

Dignity SA sets out to inform the South African public about the positive side of euthanasia and foster a change in the country's law, seeking a legal procedure in which those wanting to be euthanised will apply to an independent panel that would look at each case individually.

"Since the organisation was founded," says Davison "I've heard terrible stories of people who went through similar things as me."

Speaking to the Mail & Guardian, the 49-year-old University of the Western Cape academic said "[t]he stories are so dreadful, this issue needs to be talked about", adding "I'm a criminal when I'm not, [w]hile I respect that the law must take its course, not all laws are good."

The suggested system exists in Switzerland and the state of Oregon in the United States. During the late 1990s, the Law Reform Commission drafted the tentatively named End of Life Decisions Bill, legalising passive euthanasia. The Bill was shelved in 1998, after the South African Medical Association decided that more discussion was needed in the medical profession.

Read the full article on http://mg.co.za.