Penney Lewis

Penney Lewis studied mathematics, law and philosophy in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. She clerked for Mr. Justice Iacobucci at the Supreme Court of Canada and is qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor in Ontario. She is Professor of Law at King’s College London where she teaches Medical Law and Law at the End of Life in the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics and the School of Law. In the area of medical law, her research focuses on end of life issues including advance decision-making, refusal of treatment and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. She is the author of a number of articles on assisted dying and her monograph Assisted Dying and Legal Change was published in 2007 by Oxford University Press. Her work has examined assisted dying law and practice and the process of legal change in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Oregon and England and Wales. She has given evidence before the House of Lords Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill Committee of the Scottish Parliament and the Commission on Assisted Dying. She has also published articles and chapters dealing with a wide range of medical law topics, including wrongful life, medical treatment of children and medical procedures which are against the interests of incompetent adults, such as non-therapeutic research and organ donation. She is a member of the UK Donation Ethics Committee, Vice-Chair of the King’s College London Research Ethics Committee and a member of the Clinical Ethics Committee of St Christopher’s Hospice.