Famous Euthanasia Cases: 19 That Changed the Debate

Why do a few court cases matter so much in the euthanasia debate?

In August 1991, Sue Rodriguez learned she had ALS. ALS (also called motor neurone disease) slowly stops the muscles from working. She lived in British Columbia, Canada. She was a mother in her early forties, and doctors gave her two to five years (Wikipedia).

She wanted a doctor to be allowed to help her die when her illness became too much. But in Canada, helping someone end their life was a crime, with up to 14 years in prison. So she went to court.

In November 1992, she was too ill to travel to Ottawa. So she sent a video to a committee of Canada's Parliament. Holding up her twisted hands, she asked a question that people still repeat today (The New York Times):

"If I cannot give consent to my own death, then whose body is this? Who owns my life?" — Sue Rodriguez, 1992

On 30 September 1993, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against her by five votes to four (Rodriguez v British Columbia). She died in February 1994. An investigation followed, but no one was charged.

Twenty-two years later, the same court changed its mind. Her lost case became the first step on Canada's road to a new law.

You will see this pattern again and again. One very ill person asks a court a hard question. They often lose. But the debate moves, and sometimes the law follows years later.

This guide is a short tour of the best-known cases. It does not tell you what to think. For country-by-country context, see our section on euthanasia case studies from courts and countries. Thoughtful people disagree deeply on this subject.

What words do you need to know first?

These cases are about three different things. The law treats them very differently.

• Stopping or refusing treatment. A patient, or their family, asks doctors to stop a treatment that keeps them alive, such as a breathing machine (ventilator) or a feeding tube. This is legal in most countries when it follows the patient's wishes or best interests. Some people call it "passive euthanasia".
• Assisted suicide (or assisted dying). A doctor or another person helps someone end their own life. The person takes the final step themselves.
• Euthanasia. A doctor acts on purpose to end a patient's life, at the patient's request.

Think of a fire burning in a fireplace. Stopping treatment is like no longer adding wood. Assisted dying and euthanasia are closer to putting the fire out. Courts often draw a firm line between the two. Our guide to euthanasia, assisted suicide and MAID explains more.

Which landmark cases should you know? (Timeline)

Year	Person	Country	What the court or law decided	What changed
1976	Karen Ann Quinlan	USA (New Jersey)	State Supreme Court, 7–0: ventilator may be removed	Hospital ethics committees; advance directives
1990	Nancy Cruzan	USA	US Supreme Court, 5–4: states may demand "clear and convincing evidence"	Huge rise in living wills
1993	Sue Rodriguez	Canada	Supreme Court of Canada, 5–4: ban on assisted suicide upheld	Ban stayed for 22 more years
1997	Glucksberg case	USA	US Supreme Court: no constitutional right to assisted suicide	Each state decides for itself
1998	Ramón Sampedro	Spain	Lost in Spanish courts	Film The Sea Inside; Spain's 2021 law
1999	Jack Kevorkian	USA (Michigan)	Convicted of second-degree murder	Dangers of acting with no rules
2002	Diane Pretty	UK	European Court of Human Rights: no "right to die"	UK ban upheld
2005	Terri Schiavo	USA (Florida)	14 appeals; courts backed her husband	The cost of no written wishes
2008	Eluana Englaro	Italy	Highest appeals court allowed her feeding to stop	Crisis between Italy's government and president
2008	Chantal Sébire	France	Dijon court refused a doctor's help to die	Revived France's debate
2009	Debbie Purdy	UK	House of Lords: prosecutors must explain when they charge	Prosecutors had to publish guidance
2011	Aruna Shanbaug	India	Refused for her; allowed withdrawal in principle	Living wills (2018)
2014	Tony Nicklinson	UK	Supreme Court, 7–2 against; Parliament should consider it	Pressure moved to Parliament
2014	Brittany Maynard	USA	No court case; she moved to a state where the law allowed it	California law signed in 2015
2015	Kay Carter	Canada	Supreme Court of Canada, 9–0: total ban struck down	Canada's MAID law, June 2016
2015	Vincent Lambert	France	European Court of Human Rights: stopping treatment allowed	Final ruling 2019
2018	Noel Conway	UK	Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal	"A matter for Parliament"
2024	Paola Roldán	Ecuador	Constitutional Court, 7–2 in her favour	Euthanasia decriminalised, under conditions
2026	Esther Rantzen	UK	No court case; campaigned for a new law	MPs rejected the bill in September 2026

Can a family ask doctors to stop life support?

These cases are about people who could no longer speak for themselves. The question: who decides, and on what evidence?

Karen Ann Quinlan (USA, 1976). In April 1975, Karen Ann Quinlan collapsed at the age of 21 and never woke up. Doctors kept her alive with a ventilator. Her parents, devout Catholics, asked for it to be removed. They pointed to Catholic teaching that patients need not accept "extraordinary means" to stay alive (Wikipedia).

The hospital refused. A local prosecutor even warned of homicide charges. On 31 March 1976, all seven judges of the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed with the family (In re Quinlan). They said patients have a right of privacy to refuse treatment, and that this right is not lost when illness takes away the ability to choose (The Conversation).

The ventilator was removed in May 1976. To many people's surprise, she kept breathing on her own. She lived for nine more years. Her parents later opened a hospice in her memory. Her case also led to hospital ethics committees. Over time, all 50 US states passed laws on advance directives: written instructions about the treatment you would or would not want.

Nancy Cruzan (USA, 1990). In January 1983, Nancy Cruzan, 25, was badly hurt in a car accident in Missouri. She was kept alive with a feeding tube. Her parents asked for it to be removed. They said she had once told a friend she would not want to live unless she could live "at least halfway normally" (Wikipedia).

This was the first right-to-die case the US Supreme Court ever heard. On 25 June 1990, it ruled 5–4 that Missouri could demand "clear and convincing evidence" of a patient's wishes (Cornell LII). A friend's memory was not enough.

Think of that rule as a locked door. Remembered words could not open it. A written document could. Her family later found more evidence, a Missouri judge accepted it, and she died in December 1990. In the month after the ruling, one group received about 300,000 requests for advance directive forms. The case also helped pass a federal law that makes hospitals tell patients about advance directives.

Terri Schiavo (USA, 1990–2005). In February 1990, Terri Schiavo, 26, had a cardiac arrest at home in Florida and was left with severe brain damage. She had no written wishes. Her husband, Michael, said she would not want to be kept alive this way. Her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, disagreed (Wikipedia).

The fight lasted seven years. It went through 14 appeals in Florida, five federal lawsuits and four refusals by the US Supreme Court to hear it. Florida's governor, then Congress and President George W. Bush, all stepped in. The courts kept siding with her husband. She died on 31 March 2005. Her autopsy found severe brain damage that "no amount of therapy" could have reversed (BMJ).

Eluana Englaro (Italy, 1992–2009). In 1992, a car accident left Eluana Englaro, a young Italian woman, in a vegetative state. This means a person can be awake at times but shows no sign of awareness. Her father, Beppino, said she had told the family she would never want to be kept alive like this. He fought in court for about ten years. In 2008, Italy's highest appeals court allowed her feeding to stop. The government then tried to block it with an emergency decree. President Giorgio Napolitano refused to sign it, calling it unconstitutional (The Guardian). She died in February 2009 (Wikipedia).

Vincent Lambert (France, 2008–2019). Vincent Lambert, a psychiatric nurse, was injured in a road accident in 2008. His wife, Rachel, said he would not want to be kept alive. His parents, who are devout Catholics, wanted treatment to continue (BBC). The case went all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. In 2015, it said France could allow doctors to stop treatment without breaking the right to life (Petrie-Flom Center). After more rulings, France's highest appeals court made the final decision in June 2019. He died in July 2019, aged 42.

Aruna Shanbaug (India, 1973–2015). Aruna Shanbaug was a nurse at KEM Hospital in Mumbai. In 1973, aged 25, she was violently assaulted at work and never recovered. Nurses at the hospital cared for her for nearly 42 years. The journalist Pinki Virani asked the Supreme Court of India to allow her treatment to stop (Wikipedia).

On 7 March 2011, the court said no, because the hospital staff who cared for her every day wanted her to live. But the court also allowed withdrawal of life support in principle, with approval from a High Court. In 2018, in Common Cause v Union of India, the court recognised the right to die with dignity and allowed living wills (Oxford Human Rights Hub). The rules were simplified in 2023 because doctors found them too hard to use (Mani et al., 2023). On 11 March 2026, the court approved its first case under these rules, for Harish Rana, a man in a vegetative state since 2013 (BBC).

Ask yourself: if you could not speak, would anyone have clear proof of what you want? Our guide to writing a living will can help.

Is there a right to ask for help to die?

These people could think and speak clearly. They were asking for active help to die, which was a crime where they lived.

Diane Pretty (UK, 2001–2002). Diane Pretty, from Luton, had motor neurone disease. She was paralysed from the neck down. She wanted her husband, Brian, to be able to help her die without being prosecuted (Wikipedia). The Director of Public Prosecutions refused to promise this. The House of Lords, then the UK's highest court, turned her down.

On 29 April 2002, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against her too. It said the right to life (Article 2) cannot be read as a right to die (Pretty v UK). Her husband said he was pleased to have her with him a little longer, but very sad that her choice had been taken away (The Guardian). She died on 11 May 2002, aged 43.

Ramón Sampedro (Spain, 1968–1998). In August 1968, Ramón Sampedro, a 25-year-old seaman from Galicia, broke his neck in a diving accident. He was paralysed from the neck down for the rest of his life (Wikipedia). He fought for 29 years for the right to have help to die. Spanish courts refused him again and again. He believed that life was a right, not a duty (BMJ).

He died in January 1998. No one was ever convicted over his death. His sister-in-law took his case to the European Court of Human Rights, but it refused to hear it (UN Human Rights Committee). The 2004 film The Sea Inside told his story and won an Oscar. In March 2021, Spain passed its euthanasia law, which came into force on 25 June 2021 (BOE).

Chantal Sébire (France, 2008). Chantal Sébire was a teacher and mother of three. A rare cancer had badly changed her face and caused her severe pain. In February 2008, she appealed on television to the French president to let a doctor help her die (Wikipedia). On 17 March 2008, a court in Dijon refused. French law allowed doctors to stop life support, but not to act to end a life (ABC News). She died two days later. Her case pushed the debate forward in France. In August 2026, France passed a law allowing "aid in dying" under strict conditions (The Guardian). See where assisted dying is legal.

Brittany Maynard (USA, 2014). Brittany Maynard was 29 and married when doctors found a brain tumour. In April 2014, she was told she had about six months to live (Wikipedia). California had no assisted dying law, so she and her family moved to Oregon, which had one. She wrote for CNN (CNN):

"I do not want to die. But I am dying. And I want to die on my own terms." — Brittany Maynard, October 2014

She died on 1 November 2014. More than 16 million people read her story on People magazine's website alone. On 5 October 2015, California's governor signed the End of Life Option Act. It came into effect on 9 June 2016. Not everyone agreed with her. Two women with terminal cancer, Kara Tippetts and Maggie Karner, wrote to her and asked her to reconsider.

What do you notice about these cases? Most of the people lost in court. Yet their stories changed public opinion more than many winning cases did.

Who should decide: courts or parliaments?

Think of a football match. The referee can say that a rule was broken. But the referee does not write the rule book. In most countries, judges are the referees and parliaments write the rules. People argue about which one should act first.

When courts said "no, ask the lawmakers" (USA). In 1997, in Washington v Glucksberg, the US Supreme Court said the Constitution does not protect a right to assisted suicide (Cornell LII). This left the question to each state. That is why the law differs between Oregon, California and Texas today.

When a court forced the change (Canada). Kay Carter was 89. She had spinal stenosis, a condition that slowly squeezes the spinal cord. She needed a wheelchair, could not feed herself and was in constant pain. But her illness would not kill her soon (BCCLA). In January 2010, her daughter Lee and son-in-law Hollis went abroad with her for an assisted death. In Canada, that help could have been a crime. Lee and Hollis joined a court case with Gloria Taylor, a woman with ALS.

On 6 February 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled 9–0 in Carter v Canada. It said the total ban broke the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It applied to adults with a "grievous and irremediable" (very serious and incurable) medical condition causing suffering they found intolerable (Department of Justice Canada). The court gave Parliament time to write a law. Bill C-14 became law on 17 June 2016. Canada widened its law again in 2021, as our guide to MAID and mental illness explains.

When a court made a change itself (Ecuador). Paola Roldán had ALS. She asked Ecuador's Constitutional Court for the right to a medically assisted death. On 7 February 2024, seven of the nine judges agreed. A doctor who performs euthanasia under the court's conditions can no longer be punished for homicide (DW).

When UK courts kept passing the question to MPs. In England and Wales, helping someone end their life is still a crime under the Suicide Act 1961.

• Debbie Purdy (2009). She had multiple sclerosis. She wanted to know if her husband, Omar Puente, would be prosecuted if he travelled abroad with her for an assisted death. On 30 July 2009, in the last ever judgment of the House of Lords, the judges said the law was not clear enough (The Guardian). They ordered prosecutors to publish guidance on when they would charge someone (Dignity in Dying). She died in December 2014.
• Tony Nicklinson (2012–2014). A stroke in 2005 left him paralysed. He could move only his head and his eyes. He called his life a "living nightmare" (Wikipedia). The High Court turned him down in August 2012, and he died a few days later. His wife, Jane, took the case on. On 25 June 2014, the Supreme Court ruled 7–2 against the claim. But the judges said Parliament should look at the issue again. Two of them, Lady Hale and Lord Kerr, said the law breaks human rights (BBC).
• Noel Conway (2018). He was a retired lecturer from Shropshire with motor neurone disease. On 27 November 2018, the Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal, "not without some reluctance". In other words, the judges were unhappy to say no. They called the issue one "of transcendent public importance", meaning it matters deeply to everyone (BBC). He died in 2021.
• Esther Rantzen (2023–2026). The broadcaster who founded the children's helpline Childline did not go to court. She had stage four lung cancer and campaigned for MPs to change the law (The Guardian). On 11 September 2026, MPs voted down the latest bill by 286 votes to 270 (BBC). She said she was deeply sad that a change would not come soon enough for many people. Her death was announced on 30 September 2026. She was 86 (BBC). Read more in our guide to the UK assisted dying bill.

Our section on euthanasia laws by country shows where each of these paths has led. So who should decide? Supporters of court action say rights should not wait for politicians. Others say a choice this deep needs the voice of voters. What do you think?

What happens when doctors act without the law?

Jack Kevorkian (USA, 1990–1999). Jack Kevorkian was a pathologist (a doctor who studies disease) in Michigan. He said he helped at least 130 people die in the 1990s (The Guardian). The press called him "Dr Death". Michigan took away his medical licence in 1991 and wrote a new law against assisted suicide because of him.

He was tried four times in the 1990s. Juries acquitted him three times, and the fourth trial ended without a verdict. Then, in 1998, he went further. He performed euthanasia himself on a man with ALS, and the TV programme 60 Minutes broadcast his tape of it. In 1999, he was convicted of second-degree murder. He served eight years of a 10-to-25-year sentence and was released on parole in 2007 (NPR). He died in 2011.

Supporters saw him as a brave doctor who paid a high price. Critics, including many supporters of legal assisted dying, saw something else. According to a Detroit Free Press investigation, most of the people he helped were not terminally ill. Some had a history of depression, and some never saw a psychiatrist or a pain specialist (Wikipedia).

Today's laws, from Oregon to Canada, use checks such as two doctors' assessments, mental capacity tests and official reporting. Kevorkian's story is often used to show what can go wrong without them.

What do critics say these famous cases leave out?

Famous cases make strong stories. But strong stories can hide other voices.

• Disability rights. Disability groups do not all agree. But many fear that laws built on cases like these send a message that disabled lives are worth less. In the Schiavo case, 12 disability rights groups, led by Not Dead Yet, asked the courts to keep her feeding tube (Wikipedia). Not Dead Yet says it fights "the dangerous idea that some lives are not worth living" (Not Dead Yet). In 2021, three UN human rights experts wrote to Canada. They said widening its law to people whose death was not close would "appear to violate" the right to life of people with disabilities (UN OHCHR).
• Religious views. The Catholic Church opposes euthanasia and criticised the Englaro ruling. But faith does not only point one way. Karen Ann Quinlan's Catholic parents used Catholic teaching to ask for her ventilator to be removed. Read more about what different religions say about euthanasia.
• Care, not only choice. The nurses who looked after Aruna Shanbaug for decades did not see a life to end. They saw a patient they loved. Critics say better palliative care and support should come first. Our guide to palliative care explains what this care can offer.
• "Hard cases make bad law." This is an old saying among lawyers. A rule written for one very sad case may later cover many people it was not designed for.

Supporters reply that people like Diane Pretty and Tony Nicklinson could not act on their choice without help, because of their illness. For them, the real question is whether the law treats everyone equally. Our section on the arguments for and against euthanasia weighs the evidence on both sides.

What can you take from these stories?

Most of the people on this page never wanted to be famous. They faced a hard situation that the law had not prepared for. And one thing links many of them: Quinlan, Cruzan, Schiavo, Englaro and Lambert left no clear written wishes, so their families fought for years.

You may never go to court. But you can make sure your own wishes are not a mystery. Ask yourself:

• Who would speak for me if I could not speak?
• Have I written down which treatments I would want, and which I would not?
• Does my family know, or would they have to guess?

Our guides to advance directives and living wills and talking to your family about end-of-life wishes can help you start.

Sue Rodriguez asked, "Who owns my life?" More than thirty years later, countries still answer her question in different ways. Whatever you believe, the question is worth thinking about before a crisis, not during one.