VIDEO: Debbie Purdy wins 'assisted suicide' clarification (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

DPP announces guidelines over possible prosecution

11:45am Wednesday 23rd September 2009 in Local Video By James Rush

Relatives of people who commit suicide will not face prosecution if they do not maliciously encourage them and assist only a “clear settled and informed wish”, the Director of Public Prosecutions has announced today.

Debbie Purdy talks about her fight for the rights of people wanting to commit assisted suicide

Keir Starmer QC has outlined guidance to make it easier for those helping someone commit assisted suicide to know if they will face prosecution.

Today’s announcement came after the Law Lords backed Bradford multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy’s call for a policy statement on whether people who help someone commit suicide should be prosecuted.

Mr Starmer said: “There are no guarantees against prosecution and it is my job to ensure that the most vulnerable people are protected while at the same time giving enough informa-tion to those people like Miss Purdy who want to be able to make informed decisions about what actions they may choose to take.

“Assisting suicide has been a criminal offence for nearly 50 years and my interim policy does nothing to change that.”

More than 100 Britons have ended their lives at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, but, until now, friends or relatives who accompany them have not known if they will face prosecution.

Today's clarification is intended to make it much easier for people to know if they will be prosecuted or not.

Mr Starmer said the policy guidelines would become effective from today.

The medical profession will also be bound by the rules, he added.

Ms Purdy welcomed the new clarifications.

She said: "They seem great because it gives confidence to people like me that we cannot make a decision immediately and he actually says that he wants people to have explored alternatives, that he wants to make sure that other forms of treatment have been considered before this decision is made."

She said having such a clarification would allow people to leave it longer before making a decision to end their lives.

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