Aiding Assisted Suicide in Britain, Reviewing the Laws

Meanwhile (see prior post), Britain has created a committee that will review their laws regarding family members and friends who help loved ones travel outside the country for assisted suicide.

The move follows a number of cases in which British people have travelled with friends or family to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, where terminally ill people are able to end their lives. Although police investigated the cases, none were taken to court. Last year, Debbie Purdy, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, won an historic judgment in the House of Lords that said she had a human right to know if her husband would face prosecution in such circumstances.

Falconer told the Observer: "It is probably a criminal offence to travel with someone to Switzerland to help them to die and yet it is so obvious that nobody on any side of the argument has the stomach to prosecute people like, for example, Dan James's parents." He was referring to the case of the 23-year-old whose parents helped him commit suicide after he was paralysed in a rugby accident.

Christian groups have already accused the commission of being biased.