No compassion for assisted dying
Thu 25 Feb 2010 10:26 • Around the web,campaigns,ethics,law,politics
Mr Brown’s warning comes a day before Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, will set out final guidelines on assisted suicide. He is expected to make it clear that those who help others end their lives are unlikely to face court action if they acted out of compassion. The guidelines, which follow a series of high-profile court cases, are seen by many as effectively decriminalising assisted suicide by the back door.
Mr Brown says that while Mr Starmer should be free to clarify the legal guidelines on assisted suicide, the law itself should not be altered by Parliament.
Creating a legal “right” to die, no matter what safeguards were in place, would put unacceptable pressure on the sick and old, Mr Brown claims.
“Let us be clear: death as an option and an entitlement, via whatever bureaucratic processes a change in the law on assisted suicide might devise, would fundamentally change the way we think about death,” he says.
“The risk of pressures – however subtle – on the frail and the vulnerable, who may for example feel their existences burdensome to others, cannot ever be entirely excluded.”
Two attempts to legalise assisted suicide have failed in the House of Lords in recent years. In his article, Mr Brown suggested that, rather than heralding a change in the law, Mr Starmer’s guidance could weaken the case for new attempts to legalise assisted suicide.
Story Continues: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/7304653/Debbie-Purdy-criticises-Gordon-Brown-over-assisted-suicide.html
What the worlds needs now is divine compassion, not human sympathy.
We’re going have to wait and see how Kier Starmer’s guidance works in practice, although I can’t see it making things much clearer. At the moment I cannot agree with Debbie Purdy that legalising assisted suicide would not put vulnerable people at risk. Killing someone for revenge, profit or a misguided feeling of pity falls well within the range of human behaviour. Equally, believing someone who says they want to die when really they only want to relieve you of the burden of looking after them is an easy trap to fall into.
I don’t have Ms Purdy’s faith in human nature or the “British public”. Members of the British public have committed mass murder, starved, beaten and tortured their children to death or killed their sister because she brought dishonour to the family.
For the law to permit assisted suicide, some very, very detailed procedures would have to be drawn up. Presumably the Dutch and Swiss have such procedures. One also assumes that it is not possible simply to wheel one’s sick spouse or relative into one of these country’s clinics clutching a signed suicide note. Neither can I imagine that any legally allowed procedures would either involve dying at home or dispensing with the services of qualified doctors.
The DPP’s guidance will also, at least, bring more much-needed debate.
Can anyone explain to me why the role of the DPP seems to have become so much more prominent in public life with the appointment of Keir Starmer? Has there been a change in the law affecting the status of the office? Who can recall the name of any previous holder of this office?