David Moor
John David Moor (1947 – 14 October 2000)[1][2] was a British general practitioner who was prosecuted in 1999 for the euthanasia of a patient. He was found not guilty but admitted in a press interview to having helped up to 300 people to die.[3] He was the first doctor in Britain to be tried solely for the mercy killing of a patient.[4]
Career
Moor worked as a GP in Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne, but retired just before his trial in 1999.
George Liddell
George Liddell was an 85-year-old former ambulance driver and a widower, who had
It was agreed to send Liddell to a hospice. Moor set the diamorphine level at a rate of 30 mg per 24-hours by means of a syringe driver. Liddell's breathing got worse and on 19 July 1997 Moor gave him an injection of diamorphine and chlorpromazine. Within about 20 minutes Liddell was dead.[3]
The case would have gone unnoticed, but when
Trial
The trial, presided over by Mr Justice Hooper, took place at
The jury took 65 minutes to find Moor not guilty.[3] Mr Justice Hooper awarded the defence team only two-thirds of their costs, because Moor had brought the prosecution on himself by "very silly remarks to the press" and by lying to the NHS and the police.[5]
Reaction
Michael Wilks, chairman of the British Medical Association's ethics committee, said after the trial that guidelines for doctors were insufficiently clear: "We are no further along the road towards any change in the law on euthanasia [...] This case just tells us that doctors who take the law into their own hands, who intend to kill their patients, as it was originally thought that Dr Moor had, are likely to be prosecuted."[6]
Broadcaster Ludovic Kennedy said: "Dr Moor should never have been tried - the whole trial was a complete waste of time and money [...] He was only doing what hundreds and hundreds of doctors do in this country every year. The sooner the law is changed to allow doctors to legally help people on their way, the better."[7]
See also
- John Bodkin Adams - British doctor acquitted in 1957 of murdering an elderly patient.
- Down's Syndrome
- Nigel Cox - British doctor convicted of attempted euthanasia in 1992
- Ben Geen - British nurse convicted of murdering two people and committing grievous bodily harmagainst 15 others
References
- ^ "BBC NEWS | Health | Background Briefings | Euthanasia | Dr Moor: Landmark verdict". BBC News. 28 November 2000. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
Dr Moor, who himself died earlier this year...
- ISBN 978-1-84731-021-7.
- ^ a b c d e "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "'All I tried to do was relieve his agony, his distress and suffering'". The Guardian. 12 May 1999. Archived from the original on 4 January 2017.
- ^ a b 'All I tried to do was relieve his agony, his distress and suffering' | UK news | The Guardian
- ^ BBC News | Health | Moor acquittal prompts strong reaction
- ^ BBC News | Health | Medics review 'doctor-assisted suicide'