Published 31 July 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3131
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3131

News

Purdy wins battle for clarity of law for people who accompany relatives abroad for assisted suicide

¹ BMJ

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The director of public prosecutions (DPP) must spell out clearly his policy on prosecuting people in England and Wales who help friends or relatives go abroad for assisted suicide, the UK’s highest court has ruled.

The unanimous judgment from five law lords is a victory for Debbie Purdy, who has primary progressive multiple sclerosis and wants her husband to help her travel to Switzerland—where assisted suicide is lawful—when she decides to die.

She feared her husband, Omar Puente, might be prosecuted if he helped her under the Suicide Act 1961, which makes aiding or abetting a suicide a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison. She also argued that the blanket ban on assisting suicide breached her human rights.

Ms Purdy lost her case in the High Court and Court of Appeal, but the House of Lords has now agreed that her right to respect for her private . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Consultation opens on guidance for prosecuting in cases of assisted dying

Clare Dyer
BMJ 2009 339: b3909. [Extract] [Full Text]

Assisted dying: what’s disability got to do with it?

Tony Delamothe
BMJ 2009 339: b3446. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Chrispin, E, Brannan, S, English, V, Mussell, R, Sheather, J, Sommerville, A (2009). Ethics briefings. J. Med. Ethics 35: 715-716 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Assisted suicide in England and Wales

Don C Aston
bmj.com, 7 Aug 2009 [Full text]

Online poll

Find out more here>> and here>>