Ruling due in British assisted suicide case

[Heidi]

Source: CNN

updated 1 hour, 52 minutes ago

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A British multiple sclerosis sufferer who hopes to die one day by assisted suicide will learn Thursday whether she can die with her husband by her side.

Debbie Purdy, 46, has been waging a lengthy legal battle to clarify Britain's ambiguous laws on assisted suicide.

Her battle reaches its end Thursday afternoon when Britain's highest court, the Law Lords, issues a ruling on her appeal.

Purdy's condition is getting worse. She has primary progressive multiple sclerosis, which means her symptoms deteriorate over time.

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Britain's current law makes it illegal to help someone commit suicide, and anyone found guilty faces up to 14 years in prison. But it doesn't make clear at what point that person would face prosecution -- whether that includes sitting with that person on the plane to the clinic, opening the door of the car to the airport, or even helping them arrange the trip.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/07/30/uk.assisted.suicide/index.html

[JeanGrey]

1. It makes me totally SICK that convicted murderers get an

easier end with lethal injection that people who want assisted suicide. How disgusting. They get barbiturates to drink, and sometimes that doesn't work. It is inhumane that they cannot have the needle as well. Disgusting.

[Heidi]

2. It's legal in Switzerland,

and I suspect religious opposition is the real reason assisted suicide is illegal in many other countries. :(

[JeanGrey]

5. But they don't get the easy needle.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. MS woman wins right-to-die fight

They have told the DPP he must prepare an "offence-specific policy" identifying facts and circumstances which he would take into account when deciding whether or not to prosecute in cases like Debbie Purdy's.

However the Law Lords, in their last judgement prior to the establishment of a UK Supreme Court, said it was not their role to dictate what the law should be but to clarify it.

The DPP has previously said he does not want to have his hands tied, and needs to have the right to decide prosecutions on a case-by-case basis.

Ms Purdy also won on a second point - the Law Lords said she did have the right to choose how she died, under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8176713.stm

Reuters article here: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE56T4FT20090730?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=11595&sp=true

So this isn't a guarantee that her husband will not be prosecuted, whatever he does; but it does mean the DPP must specify conditions under which a prosecution could happen, when previously they had been able to say they'd only decide that after the fact. And if the ECHR says she has the right to choose how she dies, that must influence the DPP, I think.

A statement from the DPP is expected within the hour.

[Heidi]

4. Thank you!

:kick: