Same Difference (Free subscription) | 16/11/2009
Campaigner Debbie Purdy, who won a landmark court victory to have the law on assisted suicide clarified, says the guidelines are still not clear enough. The multiple sclerosis sufferer, 46, from Bradford, wanted to know if her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her end her life in Switzerland. In July, Law Lords ruled the Director [...]
JURIST (Free subscription) | 29/10/2009
[JURIST] The Swiss Federal Counsel on Wednesday announced proposals to restrict the country's assisted suicide laws. The new guidelines will seek to prevent assisted suicide becoming a profit-driven business and to ensure that it is only available to the terminally ill. One of the proposals imposes criminal liability on those who assist unless certain stipulations are met. Those seeking assisted suicides...
Times Online - Guest contributors (Free subscription) | 27/10/2009
This week, Debbie Purdy and I will be arguing for the legalisation of physician-assisted dying at the Battle of Ideas in London. A few years ago I might have been on the other side of the argument.
eChurchWebsites Blog (Free subscription) | 23/10/2009
Email alert from Christian Concern for our Nation At the end of July, the House of Lords ruled that the Director of Public Prosecutions should publish his policy on prosecuting those who assist others to commit suicide. The case of Debbie Purdy concerned her desire to have her husband assist her death in Zurich, where the [...]
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 23/10/2009
The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, has been in the job for only a year: his controversial speech on Wednesday night marked his first anniversary in a role that he came to with a reputation as an outstanding human rights lawyer. It is not the first time he has raised his head above the parapet. He has already tackled the difficult problem of assisted suicide, publishing – in a...
Library Boy (Free subscription) | 02/10/2009
Today was the first day of business for the new Supreme Court in the United Kingdom, now that country's highest court. The House of Lords no longer exercises any judicial function as the highest appellate court of the United Kingdom since July 30th, 2009. There is even a blog devoted to the infant institution: UKSC Blog . For background: It took 142 years, but at last Bagehot has got his way -The birth...
Weiwen's religion blog (Free subscription) | 29/09/2009
From the Daily Telegraph : As you may be aware, today I am publishing my interim guidance on what public interest factors should be considered when deciding whether or not to prosecute the offence of assisted suicide – an act which is itself not a crime. I have been required to do this by the Law Lords following the case involving Debbie Purdy. Assisting suicide is a subject about which many...
Anya Blog (Free subscription) | 25/09/2009
24th September 2009 Debbie Purdy’s persistent pursuit of clarity has borne fruit. She wanted to know from the Crown Prosecution Service whether her husband would face prosecution should he help her to take her life in Switzerland. In a unanimous decision, the law lords ruled that she was entitled to such clarity, and instructed the DPP to clarify his position as to the factors that he regards...
JURIST (Free subscription) | 24/09/2009
[JURIST] UK Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer published an interim policy on assisted suicide Wednesday that takes several factors into consideration in deciding whether to prosecute such cases. While the new policy does not legalize assisted suicide, it introduces public interest considerations that are to be weighed including compassion, age of the dying, the relation between the dying...
Community Care's CareSpace (Free subscription) | 24/09/2009
At last the director of public prosecutions has clarified the instances in which it may be permissible - but not legal - to assist someone to take their own life. Read More......( read more )
Outside Left (Free subscription) | 24/09/2009
At last the director of public prosecutions has clarified the instances in which it may be permissible - but not legal - to assist someone to take their own life....
Mirror.co.uk (Free subscription) | 24/09/2009
Right-to-die campaigner Debbie Purdy yesterday hailed new guidelines for the law on assisted suicide as "great".
Bashing Secularism (Free subscription) | 23/09/2009
It is interesting that, on the same day that various news agencies report the fabulous news that it looks like the Successor of St Peter is going to reach the British shores next year, we get the dangerous development that undermines the right to life of the terminally ill and disabled. The Director of Public Prosecutions' guidance published today puts vulnerable people in danger despite claiming not...
The Observer (Free subscription) | 23/09/2009
• Starmer admits more Britons may travel to die • Dignitas-style clinics will still be illegal in the UK The director of public prosecutions has acknowledged that new guidelines on assisted suicide could lead to an increase in numbers of Britons choosing to die at home in the UK rather than travelling to Dignitas in Switzerland, reassured that people who help them would be safe from prosecution....
All this and "D" too (Free subscription) | 23/09/2009
In the UK, and I suspect other parts of the world, there has been a debate on legalising, or at least giving people immunity from prosecution if they help someone to commit suicide. Pressure to actually come out and say something definitive has been increasing because of this debate and legal actions from a sufferer of MS from Bradford in the UK. Debbie Purdy won a ruling by the Law Lords that she...
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