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Wife asks for assisted suicide ruling
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 now 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, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, said it means she will be forced to travel alone to Switzerland, such is her determination to have an "assisted death".
She told GMTV a successful legal challenge could actually help prolong her life. 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." Ms Purdy accused the Director of Public Prosecutions of "cowardice" for refusing to give guidance on the law on suicide.
"It's the last taboo," she said. "There are two things that are definite in this life, taxes and death. It shouldn't be something we are afraid to talk about.
"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 we need to be clear on the law."
The two-day hearing began today at the High Court before Lord Justice Scott Baker and Mr Justice Aikens.
Ms Purdy is accusing the Director of Public Prosecutions 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.
