Friday, June 18, 2010

Assisted suicide: law to be decriminalised by back door from next week

By Martin Beckford, and Heidi Blake Published: 10:00PM GMT 19 Feb 2010

Debbie Purdy: Assisted suicide law will apply to deaths in Britain and abroad Debbie Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis, won an important victory for the right-to-die lobby last July Photo: EPA

Final rules set out by the Crown Prosecution Service will make it clear that those who help others end their lives are unlikely to face court if they acted out of compassion.

However the factors against prosecution are likely to be altered from existing draft guidance, after it was claimed that they would leave the most vulnerable members of society at greater risk while providing immunity to spouses regardless of their motives.

Half the population would make a "living will" if it was easy, says new poll BBC accused of "incredibly zealous" campaign to promote assisted suicide Bishop Nazir-Ali: promoting life not death Landmark High Court judgement on assisting suicides MPs run out of time for assisted suicide debate Judges call for Parliament to review rules on assisted suicide

It marks a legal milestone as the law against assisting suicide is in effect being changed without the involvement of Parliament, on the orders of the Law Lords.

It is also unprecedented for prosecutors to set out in such detail the ways in which people can commit a particular crime yet avoid being charged.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Dying Well said the guidelines "could have the unintended effect of leading potential law-breakers to believe they will secure immunity from prosecution if they assist suicides in certain prescribed ways or circumstances".

Aiding or abetting another to end their life is punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment under the 1961 Suicide Act.

Over the past decade more than 100 Britons have killed themselves in Switzerland, where assisting suicide is only a crime if "selfish motives" were involved, yet those who helped them die have not faced court.

Two attempts to legalise assisted suicide have failed in the House of Lords in recent years, but Debbie Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis, won an important victory for the right-to-die lobby last July when Law Lords agreed that the current situation is unclear.

She wanted to know if her husband would face prosecution, should he take her to Dignitas if her pain becomes unbearable.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, was given the "impossible" task of setting out the circumstances under which a prosecution would not be considered in the public interest.

His draft guidance, published in September, contained a list of factors that would make prosecution more likely but also another of reasons that would militate against charges being brought.

Legal experts say this unprecedented step "in effect decriminalises" an offence on the statute book and in so doing "infringes the supremacy of Parliament".

The Most Rev Peter Smith, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff, said: "If you have a tick-box approach it could mislead people or lead someone to say if I tick the right boxes I could get away with it."

Many of the almost 5,000 respondents to a public consultation also called for certain factors to be removed from the list of reasons not to prosecute, such as the fact that the victim was disabled.

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, who was born with spinal muscular atrophy, told the DPP that this factor would be considered discrimination on the grounds of disability.

On behalf of a campaign group called Not Dead Yet, she wrote: "This understanding of a disabled or terminally ill persons wish to die is deeply demeaning to other disabled people and sends out entirely the wrong message to those newly disabled or diagnosed with a terminal illness."

The fact that a victim had tried to kill themselves previously may also be removed from the list of factors making prosecution of their assister less likely, after it was pointed out that this suggests they may have been mentally ill.

The DPP may also change the wording regarding spouses after respondents said it was "naïve" to assume their motives in helping their husband or wife die were honest, and were not influenced by money or the desire to free themselves from caring responsibilities.

The Royal College of Physicians has demanded that doctors are specifically included in the list of professionals whose involvement in an assisted suicide would increase the likelihood of prosecution, amid fears that the draft rules could open the door to allowing euthanasia.

Miss Purdy told The Daily Telegraph: "The result of Keir Starmers guidelines will be that people can live longer and happier lives, free from that fear that there is no escape for them if they need it.

"They wont feel under pressure to end their own lives before they become unable to do so without help."

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