Lords debating assisted suicide bid

Ms Purdy has so far failed to secure a definitive court ruling that her husband, Cuban violinist Omar Puente, would not face prosecution if he helped her travel abroad to die in a country such as Switzerland where assisted suicide is legal.

Under English law, aiding and abetting suicide is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment.

In sympathetic rulings from the High Court and Court of Appeal, judges have said it is up to Parliament to change the law and that, in specific cases such as that of Ms Purdy, prosecution and/or punishment of a helper was highly unlikely under the current code of practice for Crown prosecutors.

The vexed and emotionally-charged issue will be presented to five Law Lords at the start of a two-day appeal hearing opposed by Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC, who argues that the general code of practice is sufficient and he should not be required to issue specific policy guidelines.

The hearing before the Law Lords, sitting as Britain's highest court, comes in the same week that the House of Lords itself, sitting as part of the parliamentary legislative process, is expected to debate the very issues at the heart of the Purdy case.

Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor, is reported to be planning to put down an amendment to the Coroners and Justice Bill with the aim of removing the threat of prosecution from family members who accompany their loved ones overseas to euthanasia clinics.

He suggests that, to prevent abuse of the law and pressure being put on chronic sufferers to end their lives, two doctors should certify a patient is terminally ill and patients should declare their intentions before an independent witness.

Ms Purdy, 46, from Undercliffe, Bradford, West Yorkshire, claims that lack of proper guidance infringes her Article 8 right to private and family life under the European Convention on Human Rights.

She was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in 1995 and has been a wheelchair user since 2001. Her legal action is supported by Dignity in Dying and she is a member of Dignitas, the Swiss organisation which operates specialist euthanasia clinics.