MP Pledges Bill To Legalise Assisted Suicide In UK

MP pledges to introduce Bill to legalise assisted suicide in UK, Jul. 31,2009.

A Bill is being proposed that would allow terminally ill people to end their lives with the help of loved ones in their home country, rather than having to travel to "suicide clinics" overseas.

It comes after five Law Lords ruled in the case of Ms Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis, that the Director of Public Prosecutions must state exactly when prosecutions would be launched against those who accompany people to commit suicide abroad.

Although aiding and abetting suicide remains a crime punishable by up to 14 years' imprisonment, none of the Britons who have helped terminally ill people die at clinics such as Dignitas in Switzerland has been prosecuted.

David Winnick, the Labour MP for Walsall North, said: "The question arises from yesterday's decision – should we recognise cases such as Debbie Purdy, should we change the law, should people have to go abroad?

"I'm not saying for a moment 'let's try and encourage people to die' but if a person with a terminal illness does reach such a conclusion, that they don't want to go on, and want assisted dying such a facility should exist.

"If the law was changed we would need to have absolute safeguards against abuse and to give the person who has made such a decision every opportunity to change their minds and to make it clear it would be limited to those suffering from terminal illness."

He said the issue needs to be "debated thoroughly" in Parliament and will put forward a Private Members' Bill suggesting "a measure whereby assisted dying could take place in this country".

The proposal would be entered into a ballot in the autumn, along with an estimated 300 others, and a handful will be given some time for debate in the Commons.

Even if it were one of the few chosen, there may not be time for it to be voted on as the Government decides the timetable for legislation.

In addition, the forthcoming Parliament will be shorter than most as it must be dissolved in time for a general election by June at the latest.

However, even as a symbolic gesture it shows the determination of MPs to keep up public debate on the controversial issue of assisted suicide.

Just weeks ago Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor under Tony Blair, made a failed attempt to change the law on travel to Dignitas in the House of Lords.

While fresh attempts to change the law are made in Parliament, the Crown Prosecution Service will draw up a detailed statement on the circumstances under which it would launch cases against those who help relatives die, as ordered by the Law Lords.

An interim policy will be published by the end of September ahead of a public consultation and a final policy by the spring.

Right-to-die campaigners hope it will remove the threat of prosecution for compassionate people who want to help their loved ones end their suffering.

Opponents fear it will put vulnerable people under pressure to kill themselves, and could encourage the unscrupulous to help family members die for financial gain.

Ms Purdy launched her legal bid to have the law clarified because she wants to know if her husband, Omar Puente, would be prosecuted were he to help her end her life abroad should her suffering become unbearable.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't think there is going to be a rush to get Auntie May to the knacker's yard because they want to inherit her house.

"The DPP has got the responsibility of making sure that financial gain is definitely not something which should be allowed for assistance."

Later she told the Independent she would rather die at home rather than travel to Switzerland.

“Swiss people don’t use the Dignitas clinic, because the law allows them to die in hospital or at home,” she said.

“Foreigners do that, because we have no option.

“My choice, would be to die at 90, of old age, after the medical profession had found a cure for multiple sclerosis, but because that probably won’t happen, when life is unbearable I would prefer to be able to have an assisted death in this country and not to have to travel.”

Mark Mullins, of the Christian Legal Centre, said the House of Lords judgement created "a right to die" in law.

"This is a further departure from the Christian principle that ensured in the past the protection of the vulnerable," he said.

By Martin Beckford, Daily Telegraph, UK