Debbie's breakthrough

After years of legal action, Debbie Purdy has won a court ruling that may make it easier for someone to help her commit suicide - in this case, her husband Omar.

At the moment the law on assisting suicide is so unclear that the helper risks being jailed for up to 14 years. Yet in practice such helpers are seldom prosecuted.

Debbie, who has multiple sclerosis and wants to end her life if it becomes unbearable, has gained a ruling that the government must clarify the law and explain when it would prosecute someone.

She was concerned that if Omar simply helped her to fly to the suicide centre Dignitas in Switzerland, as she couldn't manage the journey herself, he would end up in jail and his own life would be ruined.

On the face of it, a great victory for people like Debbie who feel legal obstacles are limiting their ability to manage their own life - and death.

However, there's now a lot of concern that whatever guidelines are issued may relax the law to such an extent that it will be abused and wealthy grannies will be casually got rid of by money-grabbing relatives.

But that's no reason to bring in ultra-strict guidelines that make assisted suicide as difficult as before. It just means there should be adequate safeguards against abuse - like two doctors having to give their okay.

Anything that makes it easier for someone facing agonising pain and suffering to end their life with dignity whenever they wish to should be welcomed, despite the risk of the law being abused.

Expecting people simply to put up with their lot as best they can, however traumatic it may be, is inhuman and uncivilised.

Photo: Debbie Purdy and her husband Omar Puente

A dignified end

Under English law, if you help someone else to die because they are suffering from an unbearable terminal illness, you can be prosecuted for assisted suicide and jailed for up to 14 years.

Although people aren’t usually prosecuted and the authorities generally turn a blind eye, the law still exists and relatives who help in this way always risk this draconian penalty.

Now 45 year old Debbie Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis and wants to end her life with her Cuban-born husband Omar by her side, is taking legal action to force the Director of Public Prosecutions to state his policy on prosecuting assisted suicide.

She is planning to visit Dignitas, the Zurich clinic that helps terminally ill patients end their lives in comfort and dignity abroad.

But the legal uncertainty is causing her great anxiety. "I can't let Omar travel with me to Switzerland because that might be construed as assisting me in my death," she said. "But he says he is prepared to face jail if he could do something to stop my life being unbearable."

I think it’s quite wrong that people who seek to die because of their wretched quality of life, and want a loved one to help them, are still triggering a so-called crime that could put someone in a prison cell for a lengthy period.

I certainly wouldn’t want to spend years in pain and suffering, unable to enjoy life as I had in the past, and feeling increasingly despondent and hopeless. I would much rather end what’s left of my life. I don’t see why the law should deem anyone helping me to be a criminal in the same way as a murderer or a rapist.

People always raise the ugly spectre of relatives being got rid of for some malicious purpose like inheriting their money or moving into their house, but I’m sure safeguards could be arranged to avoid that sort of abuse. This remote risk shouldn’t prevent people ending intolerable suffering.

I hope the DPP recommends scrapping this insensitive law as soon as possible.

Photo: Debbie Purdy and Omar Puente