학술논문

Criminal law implications for doctors who perform sacrificial separation surgery on conjoined twins in England and Australia
Document Type
article
Author
Source
Victoria University Law and Justice Journal, Vol 4, Iss 1, Pp 61-76 (2014)
Subject
Conjoined twins
England
Australia
criminal law
Law in general. Comparative and uniform law. Jurisprudence
K1-7720
Language
English
ISSN
2202-7912
2203-2908
Abstract
There are two reported cases in which courts have been asked to declare lawful surgery to separate conjoined twins where it is known that one twin will die during the procedure. Although judges granted the declaration sought, the two written decisions one from the common law jurisdiction of England and Wales, the other from a code jurisdiction in Queensland, Australia) are problematic. This paper argues that neither of these cases provides a principled or certain basis for exculpating doctors in a future conjoined twin case, particularly if this case does not involve infant conjoined twins, one of whom is dying or is severely disabled.