“Despite it being legal for a person to take their own life, under the 1961 Suicide Act, aiding or abetting someone to do so carries a potential jail term of up to 14 years.”
Daily Telegraph, 9th December 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions not to prosecute Daniel James’s parents boosts the case for reform of the law, lawyers and campaigners said yesterday.”
The Times, 10th December 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Daniel James was a fiercely independent young man who made his own decision to commit suicide despite his parents’ relentless attempts to change his mind, the Director of Public Prosecutions said yesterday.”
The Times, 10th December 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The husband of a distinguished novelist told how he was forced to leave his wife of 50 years to die a ‘horrible, lonely death’ because of the ‘idiocy’ of the assisted suicide law.”
Daily Telegraph, 26th November 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Regina (Purdy) v Director of Public Prosecutions
Queen’s Bench Divisional Court
“The statutory prohibition on assisted suicide did not engage the right to private life protected under article 8.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.”
The Times, 17th November 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
“Last February Josie Grove, 16, died after her parents backed her decision to forgo painful treatment for leukaemia. Her mother, Jacqui, talks to Olga Craig about her death, and applauds the bravery of ‘right-to-die’ teenager Hannah Jones.”
Daily Telegraph, 16th November 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“British campaigners seeking to decriminalise assisted suicide today welcomed news from the US election that voters in the state of Washington had backed the introduction of legislation to permit a form of euthanasia.”
The Guardian, 5th November 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
R (Purdy) v Director of Public Prosecutions [2008] EWHC 2565; [2008] WLR (D) 337
“The Director of Public Prosecutions did not act unlawfully in failing to publish detailed guidance as to the circumstances in which individuals would or would not be prosecuted under s 2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961 for assisting another person to commit suicide.”
WLR Daily, 30th October 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“The issue of assisted suicide has again been thrust into public view with another UK court case.”
BBC News, 29th October 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Many people who heard Debbie Purdy’s dignified plea for clarity on whether her husband would be prosecuted if he assisted her suicide have been moved by the reasonableness of her request. Lord Justice Scott Baker said the court could not leave the case without expressing ‘great sympathy’.”
The Times, 29th October 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“A terminally ill woman who wants her husband to help her die has lost her landmark High Court legal bid to clarify the law on assisted suicide.”
Daily Telegraph, 29th October 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Prosecutors fear a high court judgment today will lead to the first criminal cases against people who helped their terminally ill relatives to die.”
The Guardian, 29th October 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Any reform of the law on assisting suicide is a matter for Parliament, not prosecutors, the Director of Public Prosecutions has told The Times.”
The Times, 27th October 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The case of a rugby player who died in a Swiss assisted suicide clinic is to be referred to the complex case unit of the Crown Prosecution Service.”
BBC News, 20th October 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Police are investigating the death of a paralysed rugby player who went to Switzerland for an assisted suicide.”
The Independent, 17th October 2008
“Baroness Warnock, Britain’s leading expert on medical ethics and a vocal supporter of euthanasia, has said that it would be wrong to give immunity from prosecution to relatives who help terminally ill patients to die abroad.”
The Times, 4th October 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“A woman suffering from multiple sclerosis is facing the ‘dilemma’ of when to take steps to kill herself or whether to wait until she needs help from her husband and risk his prosecution, the High Court was told yesterday. ”
The Times, 3rd October 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Assisted suicide is outlawed in the UK, with the 1961 Suicide Act making it illegal to ‘aid, abet, counsel or procure the suicide of another’. Helping somebody to die carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years.”
The Guardian, 2nd October 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A woman with multiple sclerosis has told the BBC she wants the High Court to clarify the law on assisted suicide.”
BBC News, 2nd September 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“More than 100 Britons have travelled to Switzerland to make use of laws that allow assisted suicide, a practice prohibited in Britain.”
The Times, 2nd October 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
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