The appellant was a 62 year old female diagnosed with schizophrenia. She had a long-standing history of hospitalization, treatment, release, de-compensation, relapse, and re-admission. When psychotic, the appellant had a history of troubling behaviour, including attempts to divert traffic, throwing objects out of a window, crashing her car and smashing other cars with brooms. The …Read more

The National Environment Management Authority (“NEMA”) demolished the petitioner’s house after serving notice that his residential property was in a wetland. He filed a Constitutional Petition in the Constitutional Court maintaining that his rights over his property and his right to a hearing and to an appeal had been violated. He claimed that Sections 67, …Read more

The plaintiff Urgenda, a foundation committed to a more sustainable society, brought a claim on behalf of over 800 individuals against the defendant, the state of the Netherlands, regarding climate change. Specifically, the plaintiff asked the court to rule that it would be unlawful for the defendant not to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by …Read more

The applicant’s late wife suffered from total sensorimotor quadriplegia. The couple requested the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (the “Federal Institute”) grant her authorization to obtain a lethal dose of pentobarbital of sodium so she could commit suicide. The Federal Institute refused the request on the grounds that the German Narcotics Act …Read more

The Centre for Addition and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Mental Health Centre Penetanguichene (MHCP)appealed an order by the Mental Disorder Court to send a person accused of sexual assault to a hospital for psychiatric treatment. The judge knew that beds for treatment would not be available until six days later. The appeal was on …Read more

The petitioner sought a declaration of the unconstitutionality and annulment of a Minister of Health Decree which required mandatory lung screening.  This initial Minister of Health Decree was overruled by a Decree of the Minister of Public Welfare (the “challenged Decree”) which regulated “mandatory screening of epidemiological interest content wise”, (it was aimed at detecting cases of …Read more

The applicant suffered from a serious bipolar disorder and wished to commit suicide and requested a lethal dose of sodium pentobarbital, which is available only on prescription, from several psychiatrists but was unsuccessful. The applicant then contacted various official bodies seeking permission to obtain the substance from a pharmacy without a prescription. The Federal Office …Read more

The applicants, Mr. Eulalio and Mrs. Ariadna worked as nurses at the Prison of Albacete. The prison had, allegedly, implemented the so-called Syringe Exchange Program (“Program”), a public health program developed by the Penitentiary Health General Sub-Directorate. The experimental Program was launched with the objective of preventing the transmission of diseases between inmates by, among …Read more

Residents of the Matanza-Riachulo river basin brought a class action against the National State, the Province of Buenos Aires, and the city of Buenos Aires, as well as a number of businesses, for injuries resulting from pollution of the area. A lengthy information collecting process began in 2006. The Supreme Court of Argentina found that …Read more

The applicant was a United Kingdom national imprisoned at H.M. Prison Whitemoor who complained that the Government’s failure to provide needle exchange programs in prisons violated the rights of prisoners under Article 2 (respect for the right to life), Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), Article 8 (respect for …Read more