A health authority applied for a High Court declaration that it would be lawful to undertake an emergency caesarean operation on MB whose foetus was found to be in the breech position after MB agreed to have the operation theoretically but refused in practice due to her fear of needles. The declaration was granted, and …Read more

R.S. was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. On 8 March 1996, the same day that five other warrants of execution were read (although the prison was only equipped to handle two executions a day), R.S. was read a warrant for his execution, to take place on 13 March 1996. Along with a psychiatrist, …Read more

The parents of a mentally-disabled woman requested that the court authorize the sterilization of their daughter.  According to the Article 428 of the Criminal Code made in accordance with Article 6 LO 3/89 of 21 June (the “challenged provision”), sterilization of a disabled person who suffered from serious psychological deficiency would not be unlawful if the …Read more

Mr. Bland was in the care of the health authority, and had been in a persistent vegetative state for three and a half years due to a severe crushed chest injury, which had caused devastating and permanent damage to the higher functions of his brain. He was being fed artificially by a tube inserted through …Read more

“Marion” was a fourteen year old girl with an “intellectual disability”, severe deafness, epilepsy, an ataxic gait and “behavioural problems”. She could not care for herself. Her parents proposed that Marion undertake a hysterectomy and an ovarienectomy (the Procedures). The hysterectomy was proposed to prevent natural pregnancy and menstruation and the psychological and behavioural consequences …Read more

Applicant, a Hungarian national, served a prison sentence during which he assaulted prison officers, other detainees and threatened judges. He served a six-month pre-detention period in a facility for mentally ill offenders where he remained until his conditional release. He claims that his rights pursuant to Article 5 of the European Convention of Human Rights …Read more

This case dealt with the right to choose how to live, specifically regarding the right to refuse a blood transfusion. Miss T had been raised by her mother, a Jehovah’s witness, but was never baptized into the faith and had told her boyfriend and father that she was not a Jehovah’s Witness. She was 34 …Read more

Parkes attacked his parents-in-law at their home. The attack resulted into the death of one and severe injury to the other. After the attack, he drove to a police station to report what he had done. Parkes was charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. At trial, his defense was automatism i.e. sleep walking. He …Read more

The petitioner, David Riggins, challenged his criminal convictions on the basis that his liberty and right to due process of the law, as protected by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, were violated when the State of Nevada forcibly administered him with an antipsychotic drug during his trial. In November 1987, Riggins …Read more

Roger Anderson (son of Margareta) was taken into public care on a provisional basis. When he started school, it was found that he lacked social skills and maturity. Margareta rejected suggestions made by the Social welfare authorities. Roger stopped attending school in December 1984. Margareta and Roger moved to an address unknown to the authorities …Read more