New reports suggest that Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), has failed to charge at least 20 people suspected of helping others, particularly family members, commit suicide.
Mr Starmer says the cases brought before the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were “difficult” and involved families where loved ones were accused of assisting in suicide.
“These cases are all difficult, they are all very difficult, a lot of difficult circumstances, and they take quite a lot of investigation,” he said.
“They are acts within a family or family situation, compassionate acts by individuals who very often lived with the deceased for a good period of time, very often in a relationship, often a strong loving relation.”
Mr Starmer’s stance on prosecuting those suspected of helping others to commit suicide was revealed earlier this year when he said that a prosecution would be unlikely if it was “wholly motivated by compassion”. He continued to reassure the media that prosecutions would be made in cases concerning differing motivations.
Pro-life organisations have voiced their concerns on the matter. Care Not Killing, an alliance of over 40 organisations who are opposed to the legalisation of euthanasia or physician assisted suicide in the UK, said that the DPP is making a “mockery of the law”.
“We know what the DPP thinks, and we made it clear earlier this year that his guidelines have made prosecutions highly unlikely. Mr Starmer is making a mockery of the law by making assisted suicide legal for all practical purposes.”
In March 2010, 19 police files were sent to the CPS concerning assisted suicide cases. In 17 of these cases, no prosecution was given however one is still pending and the last has been withdrawn by police.
The increasing trend of people wanting to end their lives prematurely has caused great concern. Within the last seven years more than 100 people have travelled to the Dignitas clinic in Zurich, including people who were not suffering from a terminal disease. However, according to the 1961 Suicide Act, assisting a suicide remains a criminal offence which can bring a jail sentence of 14 years.
In April 2010 British police had to investigate the case of a woman who did not have a terminal illness but committed suicide at Dignitas. Her friends said that she enjoyed a decent standard of living, was able to drive, played bridge regularly and had a good social life despite suffering from rheumatoid arthritis which left her depressed and in pain.
Dr Peter Saunders, of Care Not Killing, said at the time:
“Anyone who takes part in an assisted suicide is going to claim they were acting out of compassion. The only witness who really knows will be dead.”
Andrea Minichiello Williams, CEO of Christian Concern, said: “We are concerned that the lack of prosecutions is weakening the law. It is of great importance that the current laws are upheld as they provide vital protection for those who are the most vulnerable in society. People who are suffering at the end of their lives need to be shown compassion and given better palliative care, not pressured to die.”
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Christian Concern: DDP Guidelines on assisted suicide – Improved but still dangerous.