euthanasia 'a happy death', the killing of another person to comply

with the wishes of the victim (express or implied) where the victim

156

examination of witness

is incurably ill and in pain or some miserable state. It is illegal in the UK: Att. Gen. v. Able [1984] QB 795. The House of Lords, in Alvedale NHS Trust v. Bland 1993 TLR 47, held that it was not unlawful for doctors to withdraw life-supporting medical treatment from a patient in a persistent vegetative state who had no prospect of improvement, even where it was known that death would result in a matter of weeks. The patient was not brain-stem dead. Nonetheless, it was pointed out forcefully that this was not euthanasia, which is actually causing death to avoid or end suffering.

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