RAISING OUR HEADS ABOVE THE PARAPET? SOCIETAL ATTITUDES TO ASSISTED SUICIDE AND CONSIDERATION OF THE NEED FOR LAW REFORM IN ENGLAND AND WALES
Main Article Content
Abstract
Death has been described as the last taboo. It is unsurprising therefore that those individuals who openly proclaim to desire death find themselves headline news. In October 2008, Debbie Purdy, who suffers with multiple sclerosis, challenged the legality of the failure of the Director of Public Prosecutions to issue guidance as to the circumstances in which individuals will or will not be prosecuted for assisting another person to commit suicide. The judgment was pronounced barely two weeks after injured rugby player Dan James travelled with his parents to Switzerland, to secure his death with the help of the local group, Diginitas. James was reportedly the youngest of the 100 Britons who have travelled to Dignitas to find the ‘sanctuary of death.’ However, Sky TV’s screening of the assisted death of Craig Ewert in December was no doubt the most controversial event of the year in this respect.
Article Details
Issue
Section
Articles
Authors retain the copyright and grant to the Journal the right to publish under license.
Authors retain the right to use their article (provided you acknowledge the published original in standard bibliographic citation form) in the following ways, as long as you do not sell it or give it away in ways that would conflict with our commercial business interests:
internal educational or other purposes of your own institution or company;
mounted on your own or your institutions website;
posted to free public servers of preprints and or article in your subject area;
or in whole or in part, as the basis for your own further publications or spoken presentations.