Why Should It Be a Crime to Help a Person Die?

Evening Standard - London › October 21, 2008

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Summary

FOLLOWING the death of Daniel James, the young rugby player whose parents helped him to go to Switzerland for euthanasia, I agree with Mary Warnock: Britain should decriminalise assisted suicide. But I'm not convinced that the means should be legislation alone.

Baroness Warnock believes that James's case will inevitably become a test of the law, whether or not his parents are prosecuted. Wherever you stand on the issue itself, there is indeed something distasteful about the prosecution not being brought, because it would imply that while we lack the courage to legalise assisted suicide ourselves, we're more than happy to take advantage of those countries that do. Moreover, it would leave assisted suicide as accessible only to the rich.