assisted suicide
The act of helping someone to commit suicide Under the Suicide Act s 2 a person commits a crime if he intentionally performs an act that is capable of encouraging or assisting another to commit, or to attempt to commit, suicide. This covers a variety of acts, ranging from giving someone a lethal dose of pills to arranging for them to go abroad to a country where assisted suicide is legal. The Director of Public Prosecutions has a discretion whether to prosecute (s 2(4)) and in many cases has chosen not to do so. Following the widely publicized case of Purdy v Director of Public Prosecutions [2009] UKHL 45, the DPP published a document setting out the circumstances in which a prosecution is likely. The offence of assisting suicide may also be committed where an individual sets up a website or publishes materials that promote suicide. It is important to note that respecting a competent patient’s right to refuse life-saving treatment is not legally regarded as helping them die (see advance decision). Case: R (Pretty) v DPP [2001] UKHL 61, [2002] 1 AC 800.
It is now established that a ban on assisted suicide is a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights—but that such a ban can be justified on the basis that it is necessary to protect weak and vulnerable people. However, a recent Supreme Court decision (R (on the application of Nicklinson and another) (Appellants) v Ministry of Justice (Respondent) [2014] UKSC 38, [2014] All ER (D) 195 (Jun)) has indicated that parliamentary reform in this area is necessary, as otherwise the court may in the future have to make a declaration that section 2 of the Suicide Act is not compatible with the UK’s obligations under the Convention. See also euthanasia; physician-assisted suicide.
https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/suicide-policy-prosecutors-respect-cases-encouraging-or-assisting-suicide
• The DPP’s guidance for prosecutors in cases of assisted suicide
- freeboard
- freedom from encumbrance
- freedom of association
- freedom of expression
- freedom of testation
- freedom of thought, conscience, and religion
- free elections
- free from average
- freehold
- freeing for adoption
- free movement
- Free On Board
- freezing injunction
- freight
- frolic of his own
- FRSs
- frustration of contract
- fugitive offender
- full age
- full powers
- full representation
- full title guarantee
- fully mutual housing association
- functus officio
- fundamental breach