The CPS has decided that charges will not be brought against Dr Elisabeth Wilson and two individuals following the death of Caroline Loder at her home in Surrey on 8 June 2009. A spokesperson said: "We have thoroughly reviewed a file of evidence in relation to a woman and 2 men suspected of committing an offence of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the suicide of another contrary to s2 of the Suicide Act 1961. We have decided that there is not sufficient evidence to prosecute one of the men. The assistance he gave to the deceased was not of a kind that could be said to have assisted the act of suicide. "We have further decided that although there is sufficient evidence to prosecute one of the men and the woman, after considering the public interest factors tending in favour and against prosecution, as outlined in the Policy for Prosecutors in respect of cases of encouraging or assisting suicide, it is not in the public interest to bring a prosecution against either of them."
Elderly people should be allowed to end their lives with the help of a doctor even if they are not terminally ill, according to a new campaign group that claims to have widespread support. The Society for Old Age Rational Suicide, led by a former GP known as “Dr Death”, says that pensioners should have the human right to declare “enough is enough” and die with dignity.
A Dutch doctor who exploited vulnerable people with multiple sclerosis by charging them thousands of pounds for unproven stem cell treatments has been banned from practice in the UK by the General Medical Council. Robert Trossel, 56, who practised in London and Rotterdam, gave “false hope and made unsubstantiated and exaggerated claims to patients suffering from degenerative and devastating illnesses,” said GMC fitness to practise panel chairman Brian Gomes da Costa. The panel held that Dr Trossel’s misconduct was “fundamentally incompatible with being a doctor” and ordered that his name be erased from the UK medical register with immediate effect.
The father of a woman who died after a double lung transplant said she would have been "horrified" to discover the organs were from a smoker of 30 years. Cystic fibrosis sufferer Lynsey Scott, of Wigan, died months after surgery at Wythenshawe Hospital last year. Allan Scott said she was not told that the donor smoked and is calling for patients to be given more information.
Fergus Walsh | 20:30 UK time, Monday, 19 July 2010 The case of Tony Nicklinson will re-open the debate on assisted dying and so-called "mercy killing". He has locked-in syndrome, following a stroke. Unable to talk, he communicates by blinking or nodding his head. He also has a specially adapted computer with a push-button control. Mr Nicklinson wants his wife to be allowed to inject him with a lethal drugs dose without the fear of her being prosecuted for murder or manslaughter. As the law stands, that seems a vain hope because actively taking a life, even with consent, has always been treated as a crime, leading to a jury trial.
Patients in England will be able to inspect and correct their NHS and social care records online from 2015 if the coalition government’s vision for the use of IT in the NHS becomes reality.
A GREAT-grandmother has condemned her treatment at the hands of Surrey Police as ‘grotesque and incompetent’. Dr Libby Wilson, an 83-year-old family planning pioneer, has been on bail for ‘aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring a suicide’ since September last year in relation to the death of Cari Loder, a 48-year-old Godalming woman who had Multiple Sclerosis.
A man with "locked-in syndrome" has begun legal action, asking the director of public prosecutions to clarify the law on so-called mercy killing. Tony Nicklinson, 56, wants his wife to be allowed to help him die without the risk of being prosecuted for murder. Mr Nicklinson, of Chippenham, Wiltshire, communicates by blinking or nodding his head at letters on a board. His lawyers say he is "fed up with life" and does not wish to spend the next 20 years in this condition. According to his legal team, his only lawful means of ending his life is by starvation - refusing food and liquids. His wife Jane says she is prepared to inject him with a lethal dose of drugs, but this would leave her liable to be charged with murder.
Terminally ill patients who want to commit suicide should be able to receive medical help to die, a government adviser on care for the elderly has said. Martin Green, a dementia expert for the Department of Health, said patients who were too frail to take their own lives were being denied “choice” and “autonomy” because assisted suicide is illegal in the UK. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he urged ministers to review the law and suggested that a referendum or a free vote in Parliament should be called to settle policy on the issue. “If you’re going to give people ‘choice’, it should extend to whether or not they want to die,” he said.
A man who is almost completely paralysed is taking legal action in a bid to end his life. His solicitors have told the BBC that they believe his case could have major implications for the way prosecutors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland deal with assisted suicides.
Tony, 47, and Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, 42, of Chandlers Quay, Maldon, who were Britain's first gay surrogate parents, denied one charge of providing false information to an ethics panel. The pair, who ran Euroderm Research, also deny two counts of not conforming to protocol when conducting a trial. The pair appeared before Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday. They also deny two charges of conducting a clinical trial otherwise than in accordance of good clinical practice.
On the face of it, the decision by a High Court judge in the case of M is no surprise - few would have expected a ruling to allow a patient with any level of consciousness and feeling to die. But a closer inspection of the 76-page judgement shows that Mr Justice Baker did not find his decision a straightforward one.