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MS victim says DPP is suicide law 'coward'
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent2 Oct 2008
A multiple sclerosis sufferer today told why she is asking the High Court to clarify the law on "assisted suicide" so she can go abroad to die.
Debbie Purdy's human rights case is expected to provide a landmark ruling for terminally ill people who want the help of another to die, which is currently illegal.
She fears that her husband, professional musician Omar Puente, could face prosecution if he helps her to end her life in a foreign country where assisted suicide is legal.
Ms Purdy, 45, says it means she will be forced to travel alone to Switzerland, such is her determination to have an "assisted death".
Ms Purdy told GMTV that she wanted clarity on how much help her husband could legally give her.
She said: "I'm not prepared for him to face the prospect of prosecution so that means I have to be physically able to go to Switzerland by myself."
She accused the Director of Public Prosecutions of "cowardice" for refusing to give guidance on the law on suicide.
Ms Purdy, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, says a successful legal challenge could help prolong her life.
"It a difficult thing. It's the last taboo. There are two things that are definite in this life, taxes and death. It shouldn't be something we are afraid to talk about," she said.
"We are not asking for the law to be changed for it to be made compulsory for people at the end of their lives to be dragged off to the knacker's yard.
"But this should be one of the choices available and for it to be available we need to be clear on the law."
The two-day hearing was beginning today at the High Court in London before Lord Justice Scott Baker and Mr Justice Aikens.
She is accusing the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of unlawfully failing to publish details of his policy on whether, and in what circumstances, people might be prosecuted if they help loved ones to die.
Reader views (1)
I have a great deal of respect for those brave individuals who, having contracted a terminal and debilitating disease, chose to end their lives cleanly and with dignity. They spare both themselves and their loved ones the agony of a slow, painfull and often humilating decline. In doing so their relative retain a positive memory of them as a person.
A life belongs to the person living it not to political lawmakers.
It also occurs to me that considering NHS policies on self funded treatment the law is rather two-faced. Cases where a patient is told that if they spend £500 of their own money to finance a drug they will have to pay £20,000 to finance all their care. The only reason I can think of for this is that they will live longer and cost the NHS more.
- Tobin, Andover, 03/10/2008 07:56
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