Frances Gibb, Legal Editor
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More than 100 Britons have travelled to Switzerland to make use of laws that allow assisted suicide, a practice prohibited in Britain.
The figure, released by Dignitas, the centre for assisted dying in Zurich, has been disclosed as a High Court test challenge begins today to the laws that ban aiding and abetting suicide.
Debbie Purdy, 45, from Bradford, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, says that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is obliged under human rights law to state when and in what circumstances he will prosecute people who help others to die.
Ms Purdy, a former marketing executive who uses a wheelchair and lives in a specially adapted home, wants to have the choice of ending her life if her illness becomes unbearable.
She wants to be able to travel to Switzerland to end her life, assisted by Dignitas, but accompanied by her husband, the Cuban jazz violinist Omar Puente. Under the present law he could face up to 14 years in prison for assisting a suicide.
Dignitas was founded in 1998 by Ludwig Minelli, a Swiss lawyer who runs it as a nonprofit organisation. It takes advantage of Switzerland’s liberal laws on assisted suicide, which suggest that a person can be prosecuted only if they are acting out of self-interest.
According to Dignitas the number of Britons among its assisted suicides reached 100 last month. There is, however, no independent verification of its figures.
Ms Purdy told The Times: “What I really want in an ideal world is not to have MS - or for anyone to have it - and for us all to live happily ever after.
But that’s not going to happen. So what I am seeking in the High Court is clarity - in what circumstances would they prosecute? If they say that my husband can collate the information, push me on to the train but not buy the ticket, then at least I know were I am.”
The clarification might help to determine when she would die, she said. “If I know I cannot be helped at all, then I might have to consider going earlier than I would otherwise do, when I am more able. But if my husband is able to help me with some of it, then I can delay - it may give me more time.”
But Ms Purdy, who used to enjoy an active life with outdoor pursuits that included parachuting, insisted that she had made no decision as to whether she would want to end her life. “I want the choice, the option. I don’t know if I will ever reach the stage when my symptoms are unbearable. So far, I have thought things would be unbearable - such as having to have a catheter - but it’s not. And I have a marvel-lous care team, as well as my husband, who says he will never let me get to that stage. But I can't be certain.”
Saimo Chahal, a partner with the London law firm Bindmans, who is acting for Ms Purdy, said that the case, which could go to the House of Lords, could result in a change in the law. “We are arguing that the right to life and the right to a private and family life under the European Convention on Human Rights should be interpreted broadly and should include decisions about the quality of life, including decisions about death if the quality of life is no longer good enough,” she said.
“On a practical level it is argued that the DPP should prepare a prosecution policy which tells the public what factors he will take into account when prosecuting in this area.
“It is only right that the public should know if they are likely to be charged with a criminal offence.”
Ms Purdy won leave in June to bring the High Court challenge, which is backed by the campaign group Dignity in Dying. Sarah Wootton, its chief executive, said: “We hope that common sense prevails and the judicial review will clarify the law so people considering travelling to Dignitas will know where they stand.”
The case is the first big challenge to the law on assisted suicide since that brought by Dianne Pretty, who died aged 43 in May 2002 from motor neuron disease. Her effort to change the law so that her husband could help her to end her life was rejected by the House of Lords in November 2001.
Final journey
— 3 areas outside Switzerland permit some form of assisted suicide: Belgium, the Netherlands and the state of Oregon in the United States
— 650 Britons are currently members of Dignitas
— 870 people have been helped to end their lives by the clinic
— 100 of them were from Britain
— 70% of those who request information about assisted suicide from Dignitas never contact it again
— 1941 when Switzerland made assisted suicide legal
Sources: Dignitas; Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organisation
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i have a termnal condition.
Already i feel i want to die before i no longer can meet the criteria.
I am an Athiest. My family are sympathetic to my view.
I should be allowed to say 'when' ,
and in my own country.
Quality of life comes with knowing that is respected.
ps. I have MSA
carol reed, Newcastle Upon Tyne, GB
If have a terminal illness and am reaching the end, please just keep me warm, dry and free of pain and let me go. Never mind the religious angle - I am not religious anyway - but I do want to die quietly and with dignity. Each of us deserves that, and to me, it is a human right to chose our death.
Felicity Griffiths, Manchester, UK
Im doing euthanasia as an english exam.
I find the subject very interesting and hard to ponder about.
Things differ from culture to culture.
Are we playing God killing Ourselves?
Or are we playing God keeping ourselves alive in Hopsitals?
Sam Tipping, Harlech, GB
Thanks God (and Allah for the Swiss. (and the Dutch) if Allah did not want assisted suicide to exist he would not have made Switzerland. So wake up everyone - get with God's program and please change your laws to the compassionate view that Jesus Allah support,
Larry T, marin county CA.
Larry, Mill Valley, USA
I'm terrified by reading the experience of people who know what happens in hell (because they visited?) if you commit suicide, or by people telling that life is more important than suffering etc... In these feedback, I never read compassion or understanding of suffering people - only judgement.
Thierry, Brussels, Belgium
Its very simple.....Your life was given to you by God and so therefore it is not yours to take.
Doesn't matter how much you suffer because nothing will compare to the amount you will suffer in hell for killing yourself.
Adam, dubai, UAE
I have M.S. and it is very nasty now. Six months in hospital and near death. But a very tiny, strong place inside me loves life and I said....o.k. you win.
marion, niton, england
A terminally ill person speeding his departure with a few too many drugs is a long way from this situation. Here you had a young man who was not terminally ill. Who knows what type of advances in science may have helped him. If they find a cure in a year what will his parent's think then?
Bill, Baltimore, USA
There should be no need for organisations like Dignitas.
All terminally ill people who wish to end their lives should be given all the help they need in their own country.
It is a disgrace that people are being allowed to suffer terrible pain, and die in agony, in a so called civilized society.
Michael Rigby, blackburn,
Chris. I have nursed children and adults with no bladder/limb control. Who have ulcers surrounding mouths which cannot masticate properly and very limited ability to communicate. It is terrible. But their lives are heroic and precious. The law should protect them, not leave them vulnerable.
Simon, Birmingham, Britain
I don't comment on the law. but my biggest respect to the rugby player for his courage and decision. I do not blame it. From being an active man to become paraplegic form chest down is the worst thing could never happen. Better die than living like a lettuce.
marco, London,
This is not the wider issue of whether suicide is morally acceptable but whether the law should allow it. It should not. Any perceived benefit would be greatly outweighed by the potential for harm. It is precisely those vulnerable to suicide which the law must protect- from others & even themselves.
Simon, Birmingham, Britain
Why is it not all right to let someone end their own life? I can't see why it's confusing. Your life, your choice.
Sascha, London,
Suicide is not a crime! Assisting someone to do something that is NOT a crime is in itself a crime. Can anyone think up a more perverse situation? because I can't.
Were I in the position of having a terminal, painful and debilitating condition, I would unquestionably consider termination.
M. Cawdery, Portadown, Co. UK, EU(thanks to Brown)
It is not alright to let people have the right to end their own life if they want to. The tragic suicides of a number of teenagers that have been highlighted in the news recently should surely evidence the fallacy of this argument.
Mark, Walkington, UK
We should be focused on the wishes of the individual and once it can be ascertained that they really do choose to die, and are not being forced into a corner, then those who are willing to provide the means of escape should be allowed to act without fear of repercussion. I know I'd like a choice !
Mal, London, UK
Who are we to say whether our lives have value or not. If we expect everything to be tidied up and to have total control, what about those whose lives are inconvenient: the severely disabled, the demented, the mad and the bad?
Sue, Oxford,
If you can prove that you have an incurable terminal illness that is progressing leaving you severly desabled and in need of assistance from others to survive and sustain your life and no viable cure available then you should have the freedom to choose the services Dignitas offer.
theo, London, UK
Humans should have the right to decide whether they live or not. It's ridiculous that law allows us to give dignity to our pets by putting them to sleep when they begin to suffer too much, yet demands that humans live on until the bitter end with no ounce of dignity left.....lunatics
katie, London, UK
Hi
More than 100 Britons have travelled to Switzerland to make use of laws that allow assisted suicide. Dignitas the institution that offers assisted suicide is coming under legal scrutiny in Switzerland. Strange stories have been told about them. That Switzerland is becoming a centre for death tourism is disturbing. The business aspects seem to be lucrative.
Regards Dr. Terence Hale
Terence Hale, zandvoort, Holland
Good for Dignitas!! Why should people have to suffer needlessly because of some stupid, moronic British law? If people want to end their lives, let them, and with the assistance of a loved one if they want to. Follow the Swiss example, and while you're at it, get them to run our railways as well!
Harry, London, UK
Paul - you need to nurse a progressive m.s. sufferer you would change your mind. This is not a suitable amount of suffering - this is a living nightmare- pure hell. Cannot even swallow your saliva because you will choke to death, cannot taste food certainly would cause death, double incontinence....
chris, s'bury,
thank God for the existence of Dignitas. it should be remembered, whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, that Dignitas deals with cases of terminal unbearable physical(not psychological)suffering. i guess the logic behind this is that psychological suffering is judged not to be insurmountable?
Marco, Kraków, Poland
Perhaps a more realisitc approach is to change the doctors oaths to allow euthanasia if specific requirements are meant; if the sufferer is shown to be willing with oral or previously written consent.
Cerys Gibson, Llanfairfechan, Wales
Suicide was decriminalised in 1961; it is only assisting a suicide that remains a criminal offence.
I am sad to say that the case is unlikely to change anything. The courts have made it clear that they are decidedly unwilling to interfere with public policy in this area.
David, Edinburgh, Scotland
Gladly my wife does not need their services but if she did and had made her decision to use them, I would support her to the end. The law would come a very poor second where my commitment to my wife is concerned and I would expect no less from all in that position.
mike gee, bournemouth, uk
The fact that suicide is a crime implies that the state believes that it owns your body, and by implication has the same rights as God, and by implication the State believes that it is God!
Delusions of grandeur perhaps...
peterj, aberdeen, UK
I have requested this service twice and been refused but still they send invoices begging me to contribute to their funds at Dignitas, I won;t pay them until they promise to help me die alone with just thheir nurses to support me, in return I would pay tens of thousands of pounds for the service.
Contax, Brigg, England
Don't the Swiss realise that our purpose in life is to atone for our original sin? And that once we have done this, by a suitable amount of suffering, we can all have a jolly good time in heaven!
Paul Neri, Canberra, Australia