Jordan Manslaughter Case Study

Question 7 In determining if Lillyvick, Slackbridge, and Nubbles would be acquitted of manslaughter, who should examine the cases of Jordan (discussed previously in question 4) and Smith (1959). In Smith, the accused had stabbed Private Creed, a soldier in a “rival” regiment, and as Creed was being taken to the first aid station, he was dropped twice and given improper treatment by the means of an artificial respiration (lung had been punctured). In addition, Creed died two hours after the original wounding, and had Creed received proper treatment, there was as high as a 75% chance he would have recovered. Additionally, Smith was convicted of murder since it was clear from the fact that Private Creed died so quickly after the original stab

The principle of “acceleration of death” was applied in the English cause of Bodkin Adams (1957), and its approach could be adopted by Canadian courts. In Bodkin Adams, Mrs. Morrell’s death was inevitable and she was suffering severe amounts of pain. To relieve the pain, Dr. Adams administered a drug to Mrs. Morrell that ultimately killed her and Dr. Adams had been aware that there was a chance that the drug could kill Mrs. Morrell. Furthermore, Dr. Adams was not convicted of murder as his purpose was to relieve the pain. This distinction is crucial in determining if Rachel is guilty of a criminal offence. Since the testimony of Sairey Gamp, a pharmacologist, suggests that the drug administered to Arthur would have undoubtedly be fatal for anyone, it appears Rachel’s intentions were on killing Arthur, and not reducing or relieving the pain. Thus, Rachel should be charged with murder, if Canadian courts follow the approach of Bodkin

In light of the research I have conducted, I have to disagree with this argument made. According to research done in the Netherlands pertaining to the “slippery slope argument”, there have been no such occurrence; rather the researchers found that "public control and transparency of the practice of euthanasia is to a large extent possible". In addition, in contrast to the belief of Justice Sopinka, in the Netherlands, there was no increase in the “frequency of ending of life without explicit patient request”. Furthermore, in Belgium there have been about 1,400 cases a year of assisted suicide since the introduction of euthanasia and assisted suicide. The vital point here is that, on average, Belgium has helped 1,400 individuals not suffer unbearable amounts of pain