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50 Medico-Legal J. 3 (1982)

handle is hein.journals/medlgjr50 and id is 1 raw text is: THE MEDICO-LEGAL JOURNAL Founded 1901 1982 Vol. L Part One EDITORIAL REGINA V. DR. LEONARD ARTHUR As we go to press we see that the Attorney General is considering referring to the Court of Appeal on a point of law the case of Dr. Arthur. The purpose of the reference would be to determine whether the trial Judge had been correct in ruling that to prescribe nursing care only could not be attempted murder. Whatever may be the outcome of this reconsideration, and however it may influence any future legal proceedings, it will perhaps not disturb the fundamental points which were highlighted by the trial. The most fundamental point was doubtless that whatever the law and the lawyers may say, the average man or woman who finds himself or herself sitting on a jury can see a clear distinction between the activities of the Yorkshire Ripper and those of Dr. Arthur. Amongst such jury persons there will doubtless always be a variation of opinion as regards the non-treatment of neonates with severe physical or mental handicaps. There will also in the vast majority be a tolerance for the views of others and an understanding that rigid rules could not be expected to result in universal benefit. The case did of course give great opportunities for the dissemination of the views of extremists and self-appointed experts. The organisation 'Life' which reported Dr. Arthur to the police will doubtless continue to seek to impose its views on Society regardless of the Court's decision, and its hospital 'moles' will continue their activities. The public has been inundated with anecdotal reports of single cases of brain damaged children with the implied suggestion that each one represents the average. A single case in the family would seem to be thought by some to confer instant expert status regarding all aspects of the matter upon the parents. Media coverage was perhaps inevitably selective. One television interview spoke of the joy the handicapped child had brought to the family and mentioned without emphasis that the child only came home at the weekends. Very little was seen of those children who not only do not come home for weekends, but who cease to be visited and whose very existence is scarcely acknowledged. Very little was said of the finite resources of the National Health Service when it comes to care for such children, of the shortcomings of accommodation, or of the difficulties of finding staff of suitable calibre for a most demanding and self-sacrificing task.

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