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BCL Law Notes > Medical Law and Ethics Notes
This is an extract of our Murder document, which we sell as part of our Medical Law and Ethics Notes collection written by the top tier of University Of Oxford students.
The following is a more accessble plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Medical Law and Ethics Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:
MURDER AND SUICIDE
WHAT'S NEEDED FOR A CONVICTION?
1. Doctor can be convicted for murder where jury persuaded beyond all reasonable doubt that doctor: a) caused patient's death (or was a substantial cause R v Cheshire); b) intended to cause death or GBH; and c) has no defence
2. Adams - Devlon J said if doctor only shortens life by weeks/months it's treated the same as if shortened by years
MANSLAUGHTER
1. where health care professional acts in an extremely negligent way
DEFENCES
1. DIMINISHED RESPONSIBILITY a) normally where someone caring for terminally ill suffers from exhaustion and stress b) only a partial defence = still manslaughter
2. LOSS OF CONTROL
3. SUICIDE PACT
4. SELF-DEFENCE a) Re A - conjoined twins case
MERCY KILLING
1. Very rare brought to court, only where CPS believes it's in the public interest
2. Home Office Stats for 1982-1991 inclusive reveal only 24 cases brought with only 1 resulting in a murder conviction - 16 got manslaughter but 3 went to prison
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