British Doctor Charged Under New Assisted Suicide Guidelines

Dr. Michael Irwin charged under assisted suicide guidelines, Apr. 25, 2010.

Dr Irwin has written a letter to Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), effectively inviting criminal charges within weeks, for which the former GP could be jailed for up to 14 years.

Dr Irwin, who admits he had accompanied two other previous strangers to the Dignitas clinic to help them take their own lives, wants to make a test case out of his assistance in helping Raymond Cutkelvin to commit suicide three years ago.

Mr Cutkelvin, 58, a post office clerk from north London who was suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer, chose to die in the "suicide clinic" in February 2007.

Mr Cutkelvin is one of some 140 terminally-ill Britons who have died with the help of Dignitas, which was founded in 1998. In Switzerland, "suicide clinics" are legal despite widespread criticism internationally and internally.

Just two months ago, Mr Starmer clarified the Suicide Act of 1961 which makes it an offence to assist a suicide. He published six "public interest factors against prosecution" and 16 "public interest factors in favour of prosecution".

Crucially, those factors in favour of prosecution included that the "suspect was unknown to the victim and encouraged or assisted the victim to commit or attempt to commit suicide by providing specific information" and that the "suspect gave encouragement or assistance to more than one victim who were not known to each other".

Dr Irwin, a former chairman of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society and a founder member of Friends at the End, admits in his letter to Mr Starmer that he personally paid £1,500 – out of a total of £4,500 – to enable Mr Cutkelvin to die in the Swiss clinic.

In the letter, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, Dr Irwin says: "I sent my cheque directly to Dignitas, an organisation which acts within the Swiss legal system, and fortunately is willing to help non-Swiss nationals [with a doctor-assisted suicide]. I think it is very hypocritical to allow one solution for those with some financial resources, and to deny this for those who are less fortunate ...

"I am a retired GP. Wherever possible, I believe that physicians should always act in a compassionate manner. This is an important reason why I helped Raymond. And, I know that the Crown Prosecution Service, and the British legal system, handles cases of assisted suicide in the UK in a compassionate way."

However, he said that he found the February 2010 guidelines issued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on assisted suicide to be "unfortunate" because with medically-unqualified relatives – rather than qualified doctors – helping loved ones to die there is a great risk of many "botched" suicides.

In a reply to Dr Irwin's letter, the CPS says its Special Crime Division is examining the case against him. He, in turn, wrote a second letter last week

saying: "I am quite prepared to accept the consequences – especially as I believe 'public opinion' is generally in support of my actions."

Dr Irwin was one of three people to travel to the Swiss clinic with Mr Cutkelvin three years ago. The others included Alan Cutkelvin-Rees, Mr Cutkelvin's partner of 28 years. Both Dr Irwin and Mr Cutkelvin-Rees were arrested and released on police bail last summer while the CPS studied the case.

The two men are expected to hear later this month whether they face charges and senior legal sources say that Dr Irwin is far more likely that Mr Cutkelvin-Rees to be charged under the new guidelines because he did not know Mr Cutkelvin before becoming involved in his assisted suicide and because of his involvement in other suicides.

Legal experts also say the guidelines can be applied retrospectively because they just clarify an existing law and do not amount to new legislation, which could not be retrospective.

Dr Irwin, from Cranleigh, Surrey, has admitted helping several terminally-ill patients to commit suicide in addition to the three that he accompanied to Dignitas.

In a case unrelated to Mr Cutkelvin's death, Dr Irwin was arrested seven years ago after admitting to police that he conspired to help a terminally-ill friend to kill himself. However, he was not charged over the death of the 73-year-old cancer sufferer from the Isle of Man.

Dr Irwin, 78, told The Sunday Telegraph: "I expect to be charged and I want to be charged. I accept that technically I may have broken the law but it's a weak, non-law. I want to highlight the two-tier system where 'assisted suicide' is only available to those who can afford it. That, to me, is a form of hypocrisy."

Life, the pro-life and anti-abortion and assisted-suicide group, also hopes that Dr Irwin will be charged but for different reasons – so he is punished for breaking the law. Nuala Scarisbrick, a trustee and spokeswoman for Life, said: "We are opposed to any form of 'assisted suicide'. The law must be enforced, particularly if someone has admitted breaking it. This is not as a matter of vengeance but principle – our laws need to be respected."

However, Mr Cutkelvin-Rees supported Dr Irwin. "I can only say good things about Michael. I admire the man greatly," he said, adding: "I truly believe that my partner should not have had to go to a foreign country to die."

Mr Cutkelvin-Rees acknowledged that Dr Irwin was more likely to be charged than himself. However, he said that he also hopes to be charged to highlight inconsistencies in the law. "If I am cautioned, I intend to 'refuse' it. My solicitor would offer the opposite advice but I wouldn't take it."

By Andrew Alderson, The Telegraph