The long-awaited – and dreaded – “guidelines” from the Director of Public Prosecutions in the UK have been published. There are many reactions and lots of commentary out there, but by far the best I’ve read so far is from Clair Lewis, who writes “Getting Away With Murder: Discriminatory how-to guide is a national disgrace“:
(excerpt)
In an unprecedented move, the Director of Public Prosecutions will release his special guide on how British citizens can aid and abet suicides with his approval.. as long as they only do it to the people he’s selected as fit for death.Helping end someone’s life is a crime, which usually carries a 14 year prison sentence, but not so if the corpse is one of someone who was very sick and they were ‘asking for it’. In which case, judging by recent news and the killers walking free among us, you get freedom and national hero status.
Now we will all have a neat little guide to help us kill our loved ones right.. to CPS standards. State approved Assisted Suicide Kits aren’t available, but then, it takes time to organise given how many hundreds of thousands of very sick people must need their family’s ‘help’.
If you want a full copy of DPP guidelines on assisting suicide, message me your email address – I just got sent one by Roger Daw, the DPP himself.
It seems, quite differently to the draft which came earlier, he has unexpectedly taken out the reference to impairment/health and Mr Daw wants to know if we’re satisfied now (am about to read the full thing so can’t confirm, anything yet).
Is this a victory for disabled people.. have the public in response to their consultation talked him round? Does this mean now anyone can help anyone commit suicide? I find that unlikely. And who else would this law affect except the only community considered (impossibly) to have improved lives via death? Who else can be killed for their own good?
If I get where Clair is going with this, I agree. It’s pure bullshit to think that age, health status and disability – characteristics of the deceased – will cease to be the most important criteria in determining who escapes prosecution. After all, it pretty much works that way now, without “guidelines” from the DPP.