In a first-of-its-kind ruling in South Africa, a judge has granted a terminally ill man the right to end his own life, and shielded any doctor participating in the euthanasia from legal and professional consequences.  But the patient didn’t make it to his own suicide.

“He died before the legal injection was delivered, so a peaceful, natural death,” said Sean Davison, founder of the group DignitySA, of Robin Stransham-Ford.  The 65-year old was battling advanced prostate cancer and had only weeks to live when he initiated legal proceedings.

Even though the patient is already dead, the South African Justice Department plans to appeal Judge Hans Fabricius’ ruling.  South African law currently treats assisted suicide in the same way as homicide or murder.  Fabricius said the status quo infringes on the constitutional right to dignity.  He also cautioned that his ruling was not an endorsement of a proposed assisted suicide law that has languished for 17 years.