The act of assisting someone to die is fairly commonplace in South Africa, but people in this country tend to turn a blind eye towards it, says Professor Willem Landman of NGO Dignity SA. Landman was commenting on today’s news that his counterpart, Cape Town-based professor Sean Davison, has been cleared of an attempted murder charge in New Zealand for performing euthanasia on his mother.

Davison was arrested and charged under New Zealand law after he administered crushed morphine tablets to facilitate his 85-year-old terminally ill mother’s death in 2006. He was effectively acquitted of his attempted murder charge yesterday after pleading guilty to the lesser charge of inciting and procuring suicide.

Landman points out that Davison was simply doing what his mother wanted him to do, and that he had been devastated by the criminal charges he has faced for five years. Landman and Davison are currently campaigning for the legalisation of euthanasia in South Africa, where they believe assisted dying happens frequently, but is swept under the carpet.

[Source: EWN]