R v Adams (1957)

R v Adams [1957] Crim LR 365 is an English case that allows a doctor to hasten death (as a secondary intention) using analgesic medications such as heroin and morphine.

Case Facts

The defendant, John Bodkin Adams, was a doctor who was tried on one count of murder by "easing the passing" of an elderly patient, Mrs Alice Morrell. The police claimed that Adams had murdered a number of elderly patients, and suggested his modus operandi was to administer heroin and morphine with the intention making his patients addicted and under his influence, induced them to leave him legacies in cash or kind in their wills and finally giving them sufficiently large doses of drugs to cause their deaths. One patient's bequest included a Rolls-Royce, although Mrs Morrell did not in fact leave Adams anything in her final will.

Judgment

It was said that a doctor has no special defence, but "he is entitled to do all that is proper and necessary to relieve pain even if the measures he takes may incidentally shorten life" (i.e. as a secondary intention). On these grounds, the defendant was acquitted. This case was the first to formulate a "double effect" in respect of the "mens rea" of murder. Liability for murder can be avoided if medicine which is beneficial to the patient is given, despite the knowledge that death will occur as a side effect.

See also

Notes

    • Bailii.org, a free online database for English and Irish legal materials.
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