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Woman looses assisted suicide case


Sarah

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A woman with multiple sclerosis has lost her High Court case to clarify the law on assisted suicide.

Debbie Purdy, 45, from Bradford, is considering going to a Swiss clinic to end her life, but fears her husband may be charged on his return to the UK.

She had wanted a guarantee that her husband, Omar Puente, would not be prosecuted.

There have so far been no prosecutions of relatives of 101 UK citizens who have gone to the Dignitas clinic.

Ms Purdy, who was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in 1995 and can no longer walk, was granted permission to appeal because of public interest in the case.

But speaking outside the High Court after the ruling, she said she was disappointed with the result and would be appealing.

"We still don't know how we can make sure that we stay within the law, because I'm certainly not prepared for Omar to break the law - I'm not prepared for him to face jail."

"How can we make sure that we act within the law if they won't tell us in what circumstances they would prosecute?"

She said she was still considering travelling to Switzerland to take a lethal dose of barbiturates prescribed by doctors at Dignitas.

Ms Purdy wants her husband at her side but fears he may be prosecuted on his return to Britain, and says she may therefore have to make the trip earlier than she really wanted.

Aiding or abetting a suicide is a crime punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment.

Guidance

A judicial review was granted to Ms Purdy on the grounds that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had acted illegally by not providing guidance on how decisions on prosecution are reached.

During the hearing earlier this month, she argued the lack of clarification was a breach of her human rights.

But two High Court judges have ruled they had not been infringed and existing guidelines were adequate.

Lord Justice Scott Baker said: "We cannot leave this case without expressing great sympathy for Ms Purdy, her husband and others in a similar position who wish to know in advance whether they will face prosecution for doing what many would regard as something that the law should permit, namely to help a loved one go abroad to end their suffering when they are unable to do it on their own.

"This would involve a change in the law.

"The offence of assisted suicide is very widely drawn to cover all manner of different circumstances - only Parliament can change it."

It is not the first time the issue has been raised in the courts.

In 2001 Diane Pretty, who had motor neurone disease, failed to get immunity from prosecution for her husband if he helped her to die in the UK.

Several attempts to legalise suicide in Britain have also been rejected.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Teenage girl wins right to die

A terminally-ill girl has won the right to die after a hospital ended its bid to force her to have a heart operation.

Herefordshire Primary Care Trust dropped a High Court case after a child protection officer said Hannah Jones was adamant she did not want surgery.

The 13-year-old, from Marden, has refused a heart transplant because it might not work and, if it did, would be followed by constant medication.

The girl, who has a hole in her heart, says she wants to die with dignity.

Hannah was interviewed by the child protection officer after the trust applied for a court order in February to force the transplant.

She said she wanted to stop treatment and spend the rest of her life at home.

The BBC's Jane Deith, who has followed Hannah's legal battle, said: "Hannah managed to convince this officer that this was a decision she had made on her own and she had thought about it over a long period of time, and eventually the court proceeding was dropped."

Parents 'proud'

Our reporter said that the girl's parents supported her decision and were "very proud of her".

"She didn't take the decision lightly, and she had chosen that she wanted to live and die in dignity at home with her parents."

The Daily Telegraph quoted Hannah's father Andrew, 43, as saying: "It is outrageous that the people from the hospital could presume we didn't have our daughter's best interests at heart.

"Hannah had been through enough already and to have the added stress of a possible court hearing or being forcibly taken into hospital is disgraceful."

Hannah previously suffered from leukaemia and her heart has been weakened by drugs she was required to take from the age of five.

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