Campaigner Debbie Purdy has called for an "open debate" on assisted suicide laws after her landmark court victory. Prosecutors are to clarify the law after Law Lords backed Ms Purdy's call for formal advice on the legal position of those who help a loved one to die.
Keir Starmer, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, is to clarify whether people should be prosecuted for aiding a suicide following a landmark ruling by the Law Lords last week. It had been assumed that this guidance would affect only cases in which friends or relatives helped people to die abroad, such as at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich. However, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Starmer said the “broad principles” of his new guidelines would apply equally to acts of assisted suicide planned and carried out at home.
A government source said: "Parliament is currently divided on this issue, but it may be that after Starmer produces his guidance, politicians will recognise that this is an ethical issue that cannot be left" to the Crown Prosecution Service alone.
A terminally ill patient confides in you his wish to pursue a path of assisted suicide.1 He asks you for information and support so that he can approach Dignitas and ultimately decide how and when he wishes to die. What would your response be? By providing a forum for discussion and supporting a patient’s decision would a doctor be assisting suicide or helping the patient to make an informed choice? Neither the BMA nor the General Medical Council offers any guidance on how a doctor should respond to a request for information about assisted suicide abroad. In contrast, I was clearly advised by the Medical Protection Society that “UK medical practitioners should refuse any involvement in the case of a patient wishing to discuss assisted dying, including the provision of medical reports or records that a patient might submit to Dignitas.” In addition, providing such information could be construed as constituting a criminal offence under section 2 of the Suicide Act 1961.
The director of public prosecutions (DPP) must spell out clearly his policy on prosecuting people in England and Wales who help friends or relatives go abroad for assisted suicide, the UK’s highest court has ruled. The unanimous judgment from five law lords is a victory for Debbie Purdy, who has primary progressive multiple sclerosis and wants her husband to help her travel to Switzerland—where assisted suicide is lawful—when she decides to die.
Lawyers seek clarification on role of UK doctors in assisted suicide: The UK Medical Protection Society says it will question MPs in the autumn on whether doctors may be prosecuted if they provide medical reports about a patient’s condition or fitness to travel knowing that this information will be passed to clinics such as Dignitas that help people end their life. They are also seeking clarification on whether doctors have a duty to report a patient’s intentions to the authorities.
Assisted suicide after the Lords’ decision in Purdy v DPP [2009] UKHL 45 remains a criminal offence under section 2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961. Whether the assisted suicide itself takes place within or outside the UK, assistance provided within the UK could be the subject of criminal prosecution. Any such prosecution would need the consent of the DPP. The House of Lords has asked the DPP to produce a policy structuring the discretion he exercises when deciding whether to consent to such a prosecution.
People who stand to benefit financially from a person’s death are likely to be the ones prosecuted for assisting a suicide, under guidelines to be issued this week. The law will remain unchanged but new rules will detail the factors that are likely to lead to a prosecution, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said yesterday. Keir Starmer, QC, drew them up after the law lords backed Debbie Purdy, a multiple sclerosis sufferer who called for a policy statement on whether people who helped someone to kill themselves should be prosecuted. The policy, which will be issued on Wednesday, will aim to clarify when individuals are more likely to be prosecuted or more likely not to be, he said.
Guidelines on assisted suicide law will be published by the Director of Public Prosecutions this week to clarify when people are likely to be prosecuted. Keir Starmer QC told the BBC factors that would be considered included whether anyone helping in the suicide stood to gain financially. He said assisted suicide would remain an offence as the law was unchanged.
LONDON — Assisted suicide has been illegal in England for nearly 50 years. But, ordered by the courts to clarify the law, the country’s top prosecutor on Wednesday set out a list of conditions under which his office would be unlikely to prosecute people who helped friends or relatives kill themselves.
Campaigners hailed the guidelines as a victory for common sense. But “right to life” groups said that he had exceeded his authority. Groups from the Law Society to Dignity in Dying insisted that Parliament should still legislate. Mr Starmer said the list of factors weighing in favour or against a prosecution did not mean that assisted suicide was no longer a criminal offence. Lord Falconer of Thoroton, a former Lord Chancellor and the first Justice Secretary, who tried recently to reform the law, hailed the DPP’s guidelines as a “very, very significant step” and said he had “unquestionably changed the law”. “He has done what the law lords ordered him to do — give certainty to people as to what will happen if they decide to help their loved ones to die.”
The House of Lords in Purdy forced the DPP to issue offence-specific guidance on assisted suicide, but Jacqueline A Laing argues that the resulting interim policy adopted last September is unconstitutional, discriminatory and illegal. In July 2009, the law lords in R (on the application of Purdy) v Director of Public Prosecutions [2009] All ER (D) 335 required that the DPP publish guidelines for those contemplating assisting another to commit suicide. The DPP produced a consultation paper (23 September 2009) seeking to achieve a public consensus, albeit outside Parliament, on the factors to be taken into account in determining when not to prosecute assisted suicide. Although the consultation exercise is hailed by proponents of legislative change as a democratic, consensus-building and autonomy-enhancing initiative, there is much to suggest that, on the contrary, the guidance is unconstitutional, arbitrary and at odds with human rights law, properly understood.
Should those with incurable illnesses be allowed to choose how and when they die? In his Richard Dimbleby lecture, author Terry Pratchett, who has Alzheimer's disease, makes a plea for a common-sense solution. This is an edited extract of Terry Pratchett's Richard Dimbleby lecture, Shaking Hands With Death, which was broadcast on BBC1 on 1 February
A doctor involved in the suicide of a terminally-ill cancer sufferer has had his bail extended for the fifth time in a year, Solicitors Journal has learned. Dr Irwin paid for Raymond Cutkelvin’s flight to Zurich, where the 58-year-old took his life at the Dignitas clinic in September 2007. His bail was last extended in November last year and expired in early January this year. He has now been asked to report to Haringey police station on 6 April. Mr Cutkelvin’s partner, Alan Rees, who travelled with him to Zurich, was also arrested and released on bail. He too was asked to report to Haringey police station later in the day on 6 April.
The Crown Prosecution Service has decided that, while there is sufficient evidence to charge Caractacus Downes with an offence of assisting the suicide of his parents, Sir Edward and Lady Joan Downes, it is not in the public interest to do so. Sir Edward and Lady Downes died at the Dignitas Clinic, in Switzerland, on 10 July 2009. A short time later, solicitors acting on behalf of Mr Downes contacted the Metropolitan Police to report his parents' suicide. The police investigated the matter and a file of evidence was provided to the CPS for consideration.
Sir Edward and Lady Downes took their own lives at the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland on 10 July 2009. Since there was information to suggest that one or both of their children, Mr Caractacus Downes and Ms Boudicca Downes, may have assisted their parents to commit suicide, a police investigation into their acts took place. After a careful review of all the evidence by senior prosecuting lawyers, it has been decided that there is no evidence to support a charge against Ms Downes and that, although there is enough evidence to charge Mr Downes with an offence under section 2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961, a prosecution is not required in the public interest. In relation to Ms Downes, there is no evidence that she undertook any act in England and Wales that could have assisted her parents in committing suicide. Accordingly, there is no evidence to support a prosecution under the Suicide Act 1961.