48 years on: Is the suicide act fit for purpose? R (on the application of Purdy) v DPP

Medical Law Review

Volumn 17, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 467-476

  Cartwright, Nick ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BEDFORDSHIRE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ASSISTED SUICIDE; HUMAN; LEGAL ASPECT; MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS; NOTE; UNITED KINGDOM;

GREAT BRITAIN; HUMANS; MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS; SUICIDE, ASSISTED;

EID: 70449387239     PISSN: 09670742     EISSN: 14643790     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/medlaw/fwp022     Document Type: Note

References (43)

1. Thank you to Debbie Purdy; Jo Cartwright, and Sarah Wootton of Dignity in Dying; and Professor Chris Newdick for their support in producing this piece; and Kirsty Keywood for her helpful editorial comments.
2. 'Interim Policy for Prosecutors in respect of cases of Assisted Suicide Issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions' http://www.cps.gov.uk/ consultations/as_index.html.
3. Debbie Purdy, cited in The Independent 31 July 2009 at p 3.
4. 'The evidence suggests that since October 2002 at least 90 United Kingdom citizens have travelled abroad for the purposes of lawfully obtaining an assisted suicide'. Per Lord Justice Scott Baker, R (on the application of Purdy) v The Director of Public Prosecutions [2008] EWHC 2565 at [6].
5. Cited in R (on the application of Purdy) v The Director of Public Prosecutions [2009] EWCA Civ 92 [12].
6. Per Lord Justice Scott Baker, Purdy EWHC at [1].
7. R (Pretty) v DPP [2002] 1 AC 800 [2001] UK HL 61.
8. Purdy EWHC at [41].
9. By virtue of its ruling in R (Countryside Alliance) v The Attorney General [2007] UKHL [52].
10. Purdy EWHC [58].
11. Purdy EWCA at [7].
12. Purdy EWCA at [8].
13. Purdy EWCA at [2].
14. A Mullock, 'Commentary: Prosecutors Making (Bad) Law? Decision on Prosecution - the Death by Suicide of Daniel James, 9 September 2008' (2009) 17 Med. L. Rev. 290-299, at p. 290.
15. Purdy EWCA at [24].
16. Purdy EWCA at [54].
17. JJ Shestack, 'The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights' (1998) 20 HRQ 201.
18. Dignity in Dying, 'Significant Breakthrough in Debbie Purdy House of Lords Appeal - Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights is Engaged' http://www.dignityindying.org.uk/news/general/ n162-significant-breakthrough-in-debbie-purdy-houseof-
19. Purdy UKHL at [18] (Lord Hope).
20. Purdy UKHL at [24] (Lord Hope).
21. Purdy UKHL at [90] (Lord Neuberger).
22. Purdy UKHL at [2].
23. Purdy UKHL at [9] (Lord Phillips).
24. Purdy UKHL at [5].
25. Cited by Lord Phillips, Purdy UKHL at [7].
26. Purdy UKHL at [8] (Lord Phillips).
27. Purdy UKHL at [34].
28. Purdy UKHL at [40].
29. Purdy UKHL at [81] (Lord Brown).
30. Purdy UKHL at [64] (Baroness Hale).
31. Purdy UKHL at [97].
32. Decision on Prosecution - the death by suicide of Daniel James 9 December 2008, at www.cps.gov.uk/news/nationalnews/ death_by_suicide_of_daniel_james.html.
33. Purdy UKHL at [101] (Lord Neuberger).
34. Purdy UKHL at [65] (Baroness Hale).
35. Purdy UKHL at [86].
36. Purdy UKHL at [59] (Baroness Hale).
37. Mullock (n 14) at p 299.
38. Interim Policy for Prosecutors at [5].
39. August 2 2009.
40. S Sheldon, 'A Responsible Body of Medical Men Skilled in that Particular Art...': Rethinking the Bolam Test' in S Sheldon and M Thomson (eds), Feminist Perspectives on Health Care Law (Cavendish, London, 1998), 15-32.
41. C Foster, Choosing Life, Choosing Death: The Tyranny of Autonomy in Medical Ethics and the Law (Hart, Oxford, 2009) at p 3.
42. Keir Starmer, cited in The Guardian 21 September 2009 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/sep/21/ keir-starmer-director-public-prosecutions.
43. The Guardian 21 September 2009.