[Right_to_die] M P s in London Parliament leaning towards law reform on assisted suicide, says poll

[World right-to-die news list (nonprofit)]

The Times of London reported  16 Dec 09:

U K MPs back doctors' right to help their patients die

By Rosemary Bennett, Social Affairs Correspondent

More than half of MPs (in England & Wales) believe that the law should 
be changed to allow doctors to help terminally ill patients to die 
without fear of prosecution, according to a new poll.

The findings, showing a significant shift in support for assisted 
suicide, come on the final day of consultation on draft guidelines on 
the issue.

The Director of Public Prosecutions had been ordered to issue guidelines 
by the law lords, who said that the current lack of clarity in the law 
was a violation of human rights. The draft rules give no immunity 
against prosecution but list factors that would weigh against any 
charges. They include that the person assisting in the suicide is 
“wholly motivated by compassion”, is a spouse, partner, close relative 
or close friend “within the context of a long-term and supportive 
relationship” or became involved “as a consequence of his or her usual 
lawful employment”.

The final guidelines will be issued in March. The British Medical 
Association said that they needed to be clarified further so that GPs 
and others knew where they stood. The association itself opposes 
assisted suicide and doctors taking any role in it.

    The last time that MPs voted on the issue was in 1997, when almost 
three quarters voted against “doctor assisted dying”.

The latest poll, conducted by Ipsos MORI, found that 53 per cent of the 
MPs were in favour of doctors being spared prosecution as long as the 
patient was terminally ill, of sound mind and had made a direct request 
to die.

A poll by The Times this year revealed overwhelming public support for a 
change in the law. Three quarters of those polled said that they wanted 
doctors to be allowed to help terminally ill patients to end their 
lives. Support was particularly strong among those aged 55 to 64. Six 
out of ten also wanted friends and relatives to be allowed to help 
terminally ill people to die without fear of prosecution.

Until now MPs have shown little enthusiasm for getting involved in the 
issue, preferring to leave the law to be interpreted by the police and 
courts.

It is a criminal offence to assist in the death of another person, yet 
no one has been prosecuted for helping a friend or relative to die at 
the Dignitas clinic in Zurich, where more than 100 British people have 
ended their lives since it opened in 1998.

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, which commissioned 
the Commons poll, said that she was cautious about reading too much into 
it but that the results suggested that MPs were taking notice of public 
support for change.

She said that surveys in the past indicated that MPs and the public were 
poles apart on the issue but that the Ipsos results renewed her belief 
that it was not a case of if the law would change but when it would 
change. She added: “Whilst the questions asked across each of these 
surveys do differ, they provide an indication of change.”

A spokesman for Care not Killing, which opposes all forms of assisted 
suicide, dismissed the findings as not representative. He said: “What it 
does recognise is that this was a very complicated issue. I am confident 
all those parliamentarians who responded would back our view that the 
maximum amount of discretion needs to reside with DPP in determining 
whether or not to prosecute.

“In terms of the draft guidelines, we are deeply concerned that the 
document as proposed makes a distinction between able-bodied people and 
disabled people, and that cannot be right in a civilised society.”

The law lords demanded clarity in a ruling in the summer in the case of 
Debbie Purdy. Ms Purdy, 46, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, has primary 
progressive multiple sclerosis and succeeded in arguing that it was a 
breach of her human rights not to know whether her husband would be 
prosecuted if he accompanied her to the Dignitas clinic, where she 
wishes to die if her condition worsens.

Ipsos MORI conducted face-to-face interviews with a representative 
sample of more than 100 MPs.