HUNGARY – On the death of Dániel Karsai
26 November 2024
Hungarian lawyer Dániel Karsai, who suffered from ALS, died at the end of September 2024. He and his colleagues had campaigned in Hungary for his right to end his suffering and life in a self-determined manner at home. Karsai went all the way to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which dealt with the case as a matter of priority, but essentially confirmed in its judgement that although there is a right to a self-determined end of life, the individual states, in this case Hungary, have a wide margin of appreciation when it comes to the extent to which, considering a country’s specificities, the exercise of this right should be permitted (and thus, for example, whether assisted suicide may be legal at all).
The ECtHR thus passed the ball back to the Hungarian state, whose (political) inactivity in this regard was the trigger for Karsai’s complaint in Strasbourg. An appeal requested by Karsai’s lawyers was rejected outright in Strasbourg.
On 28 November 2023, a public hearing “Karsai vs Hungary” took place in Strasbourg, in the presence of Karsai, who – alongside his lawyer and the representatives of the Hungarian state – testified on the matter. Anyone who watched the hearing at least got an idea of what it means when a seriously ill person has to go to court to demand control over the end of his own life and to explain his personal freedom of choice to judges because he needs help to do so and does not want to endanger anyone who is willing to give him this help.
Dániel Karsai and his life are unique, but he also stands for tens of thousands of life-affirming people who, due to an illness or similar, find themselves in a situation in which their quality of life is irreversibly deteriorating to such an extent that for them personally it is no longer a question of “how to continue living”, but of how they can shape the end of their lives the way they have lived and are entitled to: individually, self-determined and according to their own wishes.
The fact that so many countries continue to deny their citizens this right and penalise anyone who helps another to end their suffering and life is an outrageous encroachment on the privacy and freedom of the individual – not only of the person concerned, but also of those who would be willing to help. According to the ECtHR, states have a (considerable) margin of appreciation when it comes to the extent to which the right to self-determination over the end of one’s own life may be exercised, taking into account national specificities. So why are individuals in a nation denied any such margin when it comes to deciding whether and how they themselves wish to exercise this right, taking into account their own personal circumstances, and call on the help of third parties to do so?
With his impressive commitment, Dániel Karsai, until his death, triggered discussions in court, in politics, and also in public, which have significance beyond Hungary. His friends and allies, who stood by his side until the end, now want to continue this commitment.
