“The Suicide Act 1961 changed the law under which it had been a crime for a person to commit suicide.”
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 26th January 2012
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
“The court case of a severely disabled man seeking permission for a doctor to ‘lawfully’ end his life should not go ahead, the Ministry of Justice says.”
BBC News, 23rd January 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A man paralysed from the neck down after suffering a stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome will on Monday begin a high court battle to allow doctors to end his life.”
The Guardian, 23rd January 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A recent report by a Commission on Assisted Suicide funded by euthanasia advocates, Terry Pratchett and Bernard Lewis, ushered in by euthanasia supporter and Labour peer, Charles Falconer, and sponsored by Dignity in Dying (formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society), has found, predictably, that a legal framework should be investigated that would allow medical complicity in suicide. The fact that the 11-strong commission was made up of nine well-known proponents of euthanasia, led, inexorably, to an early-stage boycott of the inquiry by over 40 organisations, including the British Medical Association.”
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 19th January 2012
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
“The Commission on Assisted Dying, set up in September 2010 and chaired by former Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer, has issued its monumental report on assisted dying in England and Wales.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 5th January 2012
Source: http://ukhumanrightsblog.com
“The Rt Rev James Newcome, Bishop of Carlisle, said the best safeguard for vulnerable people would be to keep the existing law in place. He also claimed the Commission on Assisted Dying, a group of peers and academics chaired by the former Labour minister Lord Falconer, was a ‘self-appointed’ group that excluded anyone who objected to legalising assisted suicide.”
Daily Telegraph, 5th January 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The independent Commission on Assisted Dying, whose members include several prominent peers and medics, wants GPs to be able to prescribe lethal doses of medication for dying people to take themselves. The report, published today, calls for the ‘inadequate and incoherent’ law against assisted suicide to be scrapped following a series of high profile cases where patients have used the Dignitas suicide clinic to take their own lives.”
Daily Telegraph, 5th January 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“There has been a lull in the media recently about the rights and wrongs of assisted dying, but the conflict is sure to break out again with the imminent publication of the report from Lord Falconer’s commission, established to consider changes to the law.”
The Guardian, 1st January 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The law on assisted dying is ‘incoherent and unsafe’ and must be changed, the former Metropolitan Police commissioner Ian Blair warns today, ahead of a landmark report on helping the terminally ill to take their own lives.”
The Independent, 1st Janaury 2012
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“Guidance on how to deal with complaints against doctors who may have assisted in suicides will be published by the General Medical Council.”
BBC News, 16th December 2011
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Lord Falconer has read or listened to more than 1,000 submissions, endured foul abuse from an array of angry voices and, as head of the commission examining reforms to the law on assisted suicide, is predicting trouble even from his more rational critics when the conclusions are published next month.”
The Guardian, 16th October 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“More than 40 people have killed themselves with the help of their friends or family since new guidelines were introduced that effectively decriminalised assisted suicide, official figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph have disclosed.”
Daily Telegraph, 3rd September 2011
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“A report in the Guardian this evening (18 August) states ‘the case of Debbie Purdy in 2009 established that friends and family could help someone who is terminally ill travel to Dignitas without fear of prosecution on their return.'”
CPS News Brief, 18th August 2011
Source: http://blog.cps.gov.uk
“A 46-year-old-man who wants to die after a stroke that left him almost completely paralysed is bringing a groundbreaking legal action that could effectively lead to the legalisation of assisted suicide in the UK.”
The Guardian, 18th August 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Encouraging or helping anyone to kill themselves is outlawed in the UK under section 2 of the Suicide Act 1961; the maximum penalty is 14 years’ imprisonment. It is not illegal, however, for an individual to attempt to kill him or herself.”
The Guardian, 18th August 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“One of England’s largest health authorities has said it is not opposed to assisted suicide and called for a change in the law to give patients more ‘choice’ over how they die.”
Daily Telegraph, 24th February 2011
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Appeal judges overturn the custodial sentence for the manslaughter of his ill wife in favour of a suspended term.”
The Guardian, 26th January 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The mandatory life sentence for murder is unknown in other countries and distorts the law.”
Daily Telegraph, 2nd December 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“An inquiry into assisted dying in the UK will be objective and dispassionate, its chair, the former lord chancellor Lord Falconer, promised as it was launched today.”
The Guardian, 30th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Vulnerable elderly and disabled people will feel pressured to end their lives if the law on assisted dying is relaxed, disability campaigners have claimed.”
Daily Telegraph, 29th November 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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