Assisted suicide law to be clarified

Prosecutors to begin work on new guidelines following landmark victory by MS sufferer Debbie Purdy

By Staff blogger Published 31 July 2009

Prosecutors will begin work on clarifying the law on assisted suicide today after a historic legal victory by a multiple sclerosis sufferer.

The historic judgement by the Law Lords in favour of Debbie Purdy, 46, means that prosecutors must draw up a policy on when individuals will and will not face prosecution for travelling abroad to help a loved one seeking an assisted suicide.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Kier Starmer said that said an interim policy would be ready by September with a finalised version issued by spring 2010.

Purdy has been campaigning for legal protection for her husband, Omar Puente, should he accompany her to the assisted suicide centre Dignitas in Switzerland.

The unanimous ruling by the House of Lords does not mean that Puente is immune from prosecution but the circumstances under which legal action would be taken must now be made clear.

In their ruling, the Law Lords said: "Everyone has the right to respect for their private life and the way that Ms Purdy determines to spend the closing moments of her life is part of the act of living. Ms Purdy wishes to avoid an undignified and distressing end to her life. She is entitled to ask that this too must be respected."

Speaking after the decision was announced, Purdy, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1995, said she was "ecstatic" at the judgement and added: "This decision means that I can make an informed choice, with Omar, about whether he travels abroad with me to end my life because we will know exactly where we stand."

Purdy, who is wheelchair-bound, had previously lost challenges in the High Court and the Court of Appeal.

Read our cheat sheet for a summary of the story, the figures, and what the commentators are saying.

Tags: Politics News

1 comment

Sun, 2009-08-02 16:34 — Andy H

Here's what I don't understand about this debate:
Where does one draw the line?

Those who want to commit suicide sometimes cite the fact that they are or will be in extreme physical pain as a reason to end their lives, because its quality is so diminished. But what about mental pain? Those who are severely depressed - clinically diagnosed as such - often want to commit suicide too. They are in mental pain. If a law is passed to help facilitate assisting suicide of patients in physical pain then surely that legislation would also have to apply to those with mental health issues wouldn't it?

The alternative is to say: 'I can get help to commit suicide if my limbs give me pain but not if my brain
does' That would be in breach of the Disabilities Discrimination Act which specifically classes severe
depression as a disability.

Personally, I think that this has the potential to be the 'West Lothian Question' of this debate.