Afternoon:
10°c
Lords to rule on right-to-die demand of MS sufferer
Sophie Goodchild, Health and Social Affairs Correspondent28 Jul 2009
Law Lords will decide within days on the right to die of multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy.
The campaigner, 46, has battled for more than a year to have the law on assisted suicide clarified so relatives will know they cannot be prosecuted for accompanying loved ones to Dignitas.
Her challenge to Britain's suicide laws was launched last year to protect husband Omar Puente from jail if he helps her to die at the suicide clinic in Zurich.
She wants to force the Crown Prosecution Service to say it would not charge him with assisting in her death, an offence which carries a 14-year jail term under the 1961 Suicide Act.
The House of Lords is expected to deliver its verdict on Thursday.
It follows a string of high-profile cases where the terminally ill and disabled have taken their own lives at Dignitas.
About 115 Britons are understood to have travelled to the clinic since it opened 11 years ago.
The latest were composer Sir Edward Downes, 85, and his wife Joan, 74, who died together earlier this month.
Lady Downes had cancer and her husband, conductor emeritus of the BBC Philharmonic, was virtually blind and had hearing problems, but was not terminally ill. Their children, Caractacus, 41, and Boudicca, 39, were present as they died and went to a police station to report the death.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, is to be briefed personally before a decision is made on whether to bring any charges.
Last year, a 23-year-old rugby player who had been paralysed in a game also committed suicide in Zurich.
Daniel James, from Worcester, had told relatives he lived in "fear and loathing" of his daily life. He was not terminally ill and he was also the youngest Briton known to have died through assisted suicide.
Daniel's parents Mark and Julie were investigated by police but Mr Starmer decided against prosecuting them.
He concluded that it was unlikely that a court would impose a custodial sentence. "In all probability the sentence would be either an absolute discharge or possibly a small fine," he said.
His statement was seen as indicating prosecutions were unlikely. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland.
In the course of Ms Purdy's legal challenge the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, said the issue should be decided in Parliament, not in the courts but the Prime Minister has ruled out legislation.
