Re Gardner (2011) COP 6/7/11

The donor included the following statement in the guidance section of the instrument: "If I am suffering from a terminal illness I would ask that my attorneys assist me in travelling to a country where it is legal for me to take my own life should I choose to do so." On the application of the Public Guardian the court severed the guidance for the following reasons: (i) section 62 of the MCA 2005 provides that nothing in the Act is to be taken to affect the law relating to murder or manslaughter or the operation of section 2 of the Suicide Act 1961 (assisting suicide); (ii) the donor was purporting to authorise the attorneys to commit the criminal offence of assisting suicide, and the fact that a person who assists a suicide is not always prosecuted in England and Wales does not detract from the fact that it remains a criminal offence; (iii) although the statement appeared in the guidance section, it is not open to a donor to provide guidance to the attorneys relating to the commission of a criminal offence. [OPG summary - LPA case.]

Note

Summary from OPG section of Justice website.

Title: Re Gardner (an order of the Senior Judge made on 6 July 2011)

Heading: Severance of restrictions incompatible with a Health and Welfare LPA

External link

No Bailii link (no transcript)

Summary on OPG section of Justice website . This is a link to an archived version of the web page (archived on 6/10/14).