Harvey's posterous

What is the Law on Assisted Suicide?

Many people do not like to talk about it but everybody knows that it happens and you often hear people talking about somebody who is going to travel to Switzerland in order to do it. We continually see cases of assisted suicide reported in the news, but who actually knows what the law is on assisted suicide?

At the moment the current law is that it is illegal to aid, abet, counsel or procure a suicide or a suicide attempt in England and Wales.  This is stated in the 1961 Suicide Act.  The Law however on assisted suicide in Scotland is unclear and there is great uncertainty in this area.

There have been many cases in the media where UK citizens have wanted to travel to the Swiss Dignatis clinic in order to end there life, as assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland.  The dilemma that these citizens face is that often they want to take a partner with them to assist them in the suicide but are anxious as when their partners return to the UK they could be prosecuted for assisting a suicide and be sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.  There has been a recent case where a lady Ms Debbie Purdy who is suffering from MS has considered going to the Swiss clinic but will only do so is she could guarantee that her husband would not be prosecuted.  The Director of Public Prosecutions however has said during a hearing that it would be impossible to give a guarantee that her husband would not be prosecuted as assisted suicide is currently illegal in the UK. 

There have been over 101 reported cases of UK citizens going to the Swiss Clinic to die and none of the relatives of these citizens have been prosecuted, however the reasons for the relatives not been prosecuted are not clear and so it cannot be guaranteed in any way that future relatives will not be prosecuted. 

It is therefore understandable that Ms Purdy wanted clarification on the law and took the case to the High Court on the grounds that the Director of Public Prosecutions had acted illegally by not providing guidance on why these relatives had not been prosecuted.  The High Court ruled that the guidelines did not need clarification and that Director of Public Prosecutions had not acted illegally.  Ms Purdy has taken her case to the House of Lords and it awaiting a judgement.

As you can see even though there are guidelines in place on assisted suicide abroad there is great uncertainty and therefore legal advice should be sought before considering assisted suicide abroad – and a good place I know where you can get advice is at Solicitors in Sutton Coldfield or you can find another solicitor of your own choosing to help you.