A Critical Examination of the Law on Neonatal Euthanasia in Nigeria

Abstract

The conception and birth of a child usually herald enormous joy, merriment and tremendous sense of relief and fulfilment. Sometimes, the regime of happiness is sadly cut short by a medical diagnosis of a serious ailment or abnormality sometimes of a congenital nature. Joy is quickly replaced with anxiety, especially when the medical diagnosis is grim or of a terminal nature and the prognosis poor, such that the neonate or newborn is either not expected to live or cannot live a quality life worthy of preservation outside its mother. In such a case, the option of euthanasia arises. To many people, this suggestion is
unimaginable for religious, moral or ethical reasons. Whilst to others, any insistence on life sustenance or prolongation infringe on the fundamental human rights of the child to die with dignity, rather than live a life of perpetual pains and sufferings with no medical hope of recovery. This paper seeks to critically examine the law on neonatal euthanasia in Nigeria. With the aid of
international and national legal instruments, statutes and case law it X-rays this subject relative to state of the law in this area in some jurisdictions. In all of these, the paper identify a constitutional right to neonatal euthanasia in Nigeria as embedded in existing Nigeria case law. Finally, it recommends a radical amendment of existing penal laws in Nigeria and the enactment of specific law on euthanasia in Nigeria in line with global human rights law and contemporary medical law, practice and ethics.