ABSTRACT

It is hard to die in the United Kingdom as well, and for similar reasons. As we have seen, ideological and political pressures are brought to bear on those who want to choose an assisted death. A powerful taboo still surrounds even talking about death, far less choosing it, resulting in lack of consistency and clarity in both law and practice. Fletcher, for example, says ‘[w]hat it comes down to is that most people, including the courts, want the end – death – in certain tragic situations, but the taboo forbids the means’.2