A multiple sclerosis sufferer has won her appeal to the House of Lords to clarify the law on assisted suicide.
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Debbie Purdy, from Bradford, is considering going to Switzerland to end her life, but fears her husband may be charged on his return to the UK.
Wheelchair-bound Ms Purdy, 46, has been seeking an assurance that Omar Puente would not be put on trial.
The maximum penalty for aiding and abetting suicide is 14 years in jail.
She went to the Lords - the highest court in the land - to get the law on assisted suicide clarified.
Five Law Lords unanimously backed her call for a policy statement from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
This relates to the circumstances in which a person such as her husband might face prosecution for helping a loved one end their life abroad.
In reaction to the Lords' ruling, Ms Purdy said: "It feels like everything else doesn't matter and now I can just be a normal person.
"It's terrific. It gives me my life back. We can live our lives. We don't have to plan my death."
The Lords upheld Ms Purdy's argument that the DPP, Keir Starmer QC, should put in writing the factors that he regarded as relevant in deciding whether or not to prosecute.
Mr Starmer said prosecutors would start work immediately to produce a policy setting out the reasons why prosecutions should or should not be brought in future.
He said an interim policy would be in place by September.
He added: "Once our interim policy is published, we will undertake a public consultation exercise in order to take account of the full range of views on this subject.
"In the continuing absence of any legislative framework by then, I will publish my finalised policy in the spring of 2010."
The Lords' judgement will bring reassurance to thousands of people faced with the same dilemma.
Ms Purdy had taken her case to the House of Lords after the High Court and Court of Appeal ruled it was for Parliament, not the courts, to change the law.
Euthanasia is only allowed in the state of Oregon in the U.S..
I despise individuals who forgo of their Hippocratic oath of doing no harm, by joining clinics where they get to do just that... and I despise those who wish to burden others with their sins.. If you desire to end your life you can always do it at home with a bottle of pills or a gun .. there is no point in making an issue out of it and this need not be legal in any state or country.. It doesn't bode well with most doctors and I hope we don't reach the stage where it will become the norm by judicial edict. Birth and death is not a human matter to meddle with!
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Well I disagree with one aspect of how assisted suicide law is interpreted. If you try to help someone die, they would treat it as same as murder. Both acts have the same intention in a sense you are killing someone, however with assisted suicide the individual trying to end the other individual life would not be seen as malicious or have any evil thoughts than compared to a murderer.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
Suicide is obviously haram, and assisting in suicide is murder.
But there are some issues that don't seem so clear to me. Is withholding medical care, or deliberately not seeking medical care, part of this?
Like, if somebody is a heart patient, and they tell everybody that the next time I have an attack, don't take me to the hospital, is this suicide?
Or if a person is on a heart/lung machine (not brain dead), and he, or the relatives, or the doctor decide to stop the machine?
And sometimes patients in a coma, whom the doctors have declared brain dead, and are ready to turn off the machine on, recover. So is turning off an (extremely expensive) heart/lung machine that is supporting the life of a person murder?
Allah swt will ask you about your health as it is a gift he bestowed amongst others.. so I am not going to interpret for you how that relates to your example.. but from my experience people in extreme pain always seek help.. it is sort of like trying to kill yourself by holding your breath or trying to drown yourself or trying to swallow liquid drain cleaner.. your body just won't let you do it.. and it is the reason folks seek outside help whether in the form of meds a gun or by a direct hand of a nurse who will up their dose on something.. Now most people who poison themselves will present to the hospital once the pain and/or difficulty breathing sets in.. pain is often accompanied with anxiety and that can heighten 'the freaking out' sensation even more and no one likes that-- so I doubt that there are people who have a 'heart attack' and decide they'll stay home and not seek help.. in all likelihood the cause of their heart attack in such a case is indigestion...
and Allah swt knows best
Last edited by جوري; 07-31-2009 at 03:52 AM.
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
Gossamer skye -Unfortunately a bottle of pills or a gun do not always work. The result may leave very damaged bodies behind for their relatives to care for, or a full time bed in hospital which could be used for someone who wants to live. I think that the choice is a very personal one for both the doctor and patient - and I don't think that in some cases the doctors are actually doing harm ( as in the Hippocratic oath) if everyone involved is in agreement and the patient has asked for this whilst they still have their full
mental faculties. In fact, everyone should make a 'living will' so if the patient should lose their mental capacity suddenly this situation is covered.
Birth and life are continually meddled with to provide safe deliveries and quality of life and I'm sure most mothers who have had difficult births which could have ended in the death of mother or child without medical intervention would not agree with you.
I for one could not stand by and watch a loved one die in agony from something that is eventually going to kill them anyway and that cannot be eased by medication, particularily if they had previously asked me to provide medical intervention when they could bear it no longer. For many people who do not suscribe to religions that consider this a sin that will disbar them from paradise I think they will see this change in law as heaven sent even tho' you find them despicable.
Gossamer skye -Unfortunately a bottle of pills or a gun do not always work. The result may leave very damaged bodies behind for their relatives to care for, or a full time bed in hospital which could be used for someone who wants to live. I think that the choice is a very personal one for both the doctor and patient - and I don't think that in some cases the doctors are actually doing harm ( as in the Hippocratic oath) if everyone involved is in agreement and the patient has asked for this whilst they still have their full
If you don't want to leave your face in ruins or have a desire to end up in kidney or liver failure necessitating that you receive a transplant from a donor, or taking up a bed in a hospital at the expense of some tax payers' money no insurance I know of will pay for 'assisted suicide' then perhaps the point of this exercise is, it is best to think twice about doing any form of physical harm to self? I believe death is more disfiguring than a grotesque facial architecture.. certainly good to consider that there are folks out there who succumb to mucor mycosis, and can only be saved if at all by a debirdement procedure and are still grateful for the gift of life even with a prosthetic nose or eyes--And NO not everyone is in agreement-- I'd refrain if I were you for speaking on behalf of the medical community! the most any physician can do when human laws are not in concert with his/her personal beliefs is find another physician to take on said patient, at the same time NOT abandon the patient, since it is a criminal offense in the U.S to do so.. Thus leaving one in a very difficult situation if said procedure were to become a judicial edict.. Medicine doesn't pass judicial edicts rather follows them.. so there will be a great conflict of interest, if such nonsense comes to pass!
People have been born and died since the beginning of time certainly at times under very stressful conditions they didn't have the comfort of modern medicine whether fentanyl patches or oxygen.. It is the human condition and it is man's lot to taste death, anything falling outside of those very well defined lines is a personal decision from which the whole can't and shall not be made to suffer!~
mental faculties. In fact, everyone should make a 'living will' so if the patient should lose their mental capacity suddenly this situation is covered.
I agree with that indeed!
However, I hazard ask if you yourself understand the criteria of a living will or even through power of attorney... a DNR and DNI requests have really nothing to do with suicide.. it has to do with extending ones life by artificial means when there is no chance of regaining life. You'd need a neurologist or two physician and a 6 step wise procedure to determine if someone is clinically dead. your living will simply states your wants.. I don't want unnecessary defbrillation if I have gone into asystole. I don't want to be intubated if I can't breathe on my own, don't keep shocking me if I go into V-fib etc.
Birth and life are continually meddled with to provide safe deliveries and quality of life and I'm sure most mothers who have had difficult births which could have ended in the death of mother or child without medical intervention would not agree with you.
I see no relevance of this whatsoever to anything I have written... The Job of the physician is to help, facilitate, comfort, provide treatment when necessary. We don't create life and we don't take it away, again that should have been rather obvious and your take home lesson!
I for one could not stand by and watch a loved one die in agony from something that is eventually going to kill them anyway and that cannot be eased by medication, particularily if they had previously asked me to provide medical intervention when they could bear it no longer. For many people who do not suscribe to religions that consider this a sin that will disbar them from paradise I think they will see this change in law as heaven sent even tho' you find them despicable.
This isn't about what you want or what you think is appropriate or your own personal beliefs! Your own personal beliefs whether wholesome or ridiculous is something that you can only employ in your life and deal with on your own time it has no bearing on the whole.. This is about what a doctor will tolerate on his or her conscious should this become state law!
Also you don't know what I find despicable or desirable, so I'd refrain from speaking on my behalf just the same!
all the best
Last edited by جوري; 07-31-2009 at 08:53 PM.
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
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