The law on mercy killing is badly in need of an overhaul – Daily Telegraph
“The mandatory life sentence for murder is unknown in other countries and distorts the law.”
Daily Telegraph, 2nd December 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Category: assisted suicide
Assisted dying inquiry will be fair, Falconer vows – The Guardian
“An inquiry into assisted dying in the UK will be objective and dispassionate, its chair, the former lord chancellor Lord Falconer, promised as it was launched today.”
The Guardian, 30th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Disabled will suffer from assisted dying law, claim critics of new inquiry – Daily Telegraph
“Vulnerable elderly and disabled people will feel pressured to end their lives if the law on assisted dying is relaxed, disability campaigners have claimed.”
Daily Telegraph, 29th November 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Assisted suicide law to be reviewed by Lords – The Guardian
“Lord Falconer, the former lord chancellor, is to chair a commission that will question whether or not relatives should be able to apply to a judge for permission to assist a loved one to commit suicide.”
The Guardian, 29th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Thinktank warns against legalising assisted suicide – The Guardian
“The old, ill, mute and frail will be deemed expendable if assisted suicide is legalised, a thinktank says today. Society’s most vulnerable risk being bullied into an early death by greedy or uncaring relatives or bureaucrats, according to a study published by the Centre for Policy Studies.”
The Guardian, 18th October 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
No charges following death of Caroline Loder – Crown Prosecution Service
“The Crown Prosecution Service has decided that charges will not be brought against Dr Elisabeth Wilson and two individuals following the death of Caroline Loder at her home in Surrey on 8 June 2009.”
Crown Prosecution Service, 16th August 2010
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
No prosecutions in Caroline Loder MS death probe – BBC news
“Three people arrested over the suicide of a multiple sclerosis sufferer will not face prosecution, it has emerged.”
BBC News, 16th August 2010
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Legal assisted suicide creates ‘slippery slope’ to doctors killing without consent, expert claims – Daily Telegraph
“Prof David Jones said that if society agrees that it is in some people’s interests for them to end their own lives, it is difficult to resist the logical conclusion that others should be helped to die even if they have not made such a request.”
Daily Telegraph, 1st July 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
No charges following death of Raymond Cutkelvin – Crown Prosecution Service
“Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, has today said that while there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Alan Cutkelvin Rees and Dr Michael Irwin in relation to the death of Raymond Cutkelvin at a Dignitas clinic in Switzerland in February 2007, such a prosecution would not be in the public interest and no further action should be taken against them.”
Crown Prosecution Service, 25th June 2010
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
No prosecution for right-to-die doctor – BBC News
“A former GP and right-to-die campaigner who took a man to a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland will not be prosecuted.”
BBC News, 25th June 2010
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Man who helped wife commit suicide will not be prosecuted – Daily Telegraph
“An IT consultant who helped his wife commit suicide to escape decades of chronic pain will not face charges because he was ‘wholly motivated by compassion’, the Crown Prosecution Service announced yesterday.”
Daily Telegraph, 25th May 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
No charges following deaths of Sir Edward and Lady Downes – Crown Prosecution Service
“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.”
Crown Prosecution Service, 19th March 2010
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
Leading article: Clarity in the law is not always for the best – The Independent
“Tidying things up can make them worse. That is the worry about Keir Starmer’s valiant attempt yesterday to clarify the law on assisted suicide. The Director of Public Prosecutions had no choice, of course. His hand was forced by the House of Lords, following Debbie Purdy’s historic legal victory in winning the right to determine the timing and manner of her own death.”
The Independent, 26th February 2010
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Q&A: Assisted suicide – The Guardian
“David Batty examines the legal issues of the updated guidelines.”
The Guardian, 25th February 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Assisted suicide: law to be decriminalised ‘by back door’ from next week – Daily Telegraph
“Assisted suicide will be effectively decriminalised by the back door in landmark guidance to be published next week.”
Daily Telegraph, 19th February 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
CPS to issue full guidance on assisted suicide cases – The Independent
“Full guidance on when prosecutions should be brought for assisting suicide will be published next week, the Crown Prosecution Service said today.”
The Independent, 17th February 2010
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Assisted suicide – for and against – BBC News
“Calls for a change in the law on assisted suicide in England and Wales have reignited the debate on whether the terminally ill should have the right to be helped to die. But who wants what?”
BBC News, 1st February 2010
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Guardian Daily: Assisted suicide and the law – The Guardian
“Earlier this month, Frances Inglis was jailed for nine years for murder after injecting her brain-damaged son Thomas, 22, with a lethal dose of heroin. Just days later, Kay Gilderdale pleaded guilty to assisting suicide but was acquitted of murdering her daughter Lynn, 31, an ME sufferer whom she’d given morphine. Legal affairs correspondent Afua Hirsch explains the difference between these two cases.”
The Guardian, 29th January 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Questions about the decision to prosecute Kay Gilderdale – Crown Prosecution Service
“A question has arisen as to whether it was in the public interest for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to have prosecuted Kay Gilderdale for attempted murder.”
Crown Prosecution Service, 26th January 2010
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
Royal College of Physicians warns that proposed guidance could ‘open door’ to doctor-assisted suicide – Daily Telegraph
“In a strongly-worded submission to the Crown Prosecution Service, England’s oldest medical institution says that any clinician suspected of helping someone die should be investigated by police. It also warns that the draft clarification of the Suicide Act will mean doctors are ‘coerced’ into speculating on how long a patient has to live, so that their loved ones are able to escape prosecution for assisted suicide by claiming they were terminally ill.”
Daily Telegraph, 20th January 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
