Apr. 30, 2015 – South African Court Allows Assisted Suicide for Terminally Ill Man

Robin Stransham-Ford, a 65-year-old man diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in 2013, was granted the right to have a doctor help him end his life by the High Court in Pretoria. Dignity South Africa, the group that helped bring the case to court, noted that Mr. Stransham “died peacefully of natural causes” the same day the ruling was given. State prosecutors had planned to appeal the ruling before learning of his death. Assisted suicide remains illegal in South Africa, but Dignity South Africa hoped the ruling would “set in motion the process of legalising assisted dying in South Africa.” The National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa stated that the ruling was “precedent-setting” and could have “far-reaching implications.”