A leading campaigner for reform of the law on assisted dying, Dr Michael Irwin, is currently on bail after taking a man to a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland. He has demanded to be charged.

Dr Michael Irwin said he had taken three people to Dignitas

Dr Michael Irwin, 79, of Surrey, was arrested last year after Raymond Cutkelvin, of London, died at Dignitas.

The retired GP has been answering bail every six weeks and has now written to Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC asking for a decision.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it was reviewing the evidence.

In a statement, a CPS spokesman said: “We are reviewing a file of evidence concerning the involvement of a number of individuals, including Dr Irwin, in the death of Raymond Cutkelvin.

“We will decide if any charges should be authorised in due course.”

Dr Irwin, a former chairman of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, now called Dignity in Dying, said he had taken three terminally-ill people to Dignitas in the past four years.

He said the last person he accompanied to the organisation in Zurich was Mr Cutkelvin, in February 2007, who had advanced cancer of the pancreas.

For the full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8648703.stm

Dr Michael Irwin was medical director of the United Nations in New York before he retired, and is a long-time campaigner for voluntary euthanasia. He has helped several of his terminally ill patients to die by offering fatal quantities of drugs to ease their suffering.  He is a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association. The BHA campaigns for the legalisation of assisted dying for the terminally ill.