A St. Anthony, N.L., mother who says she was told assisted suicide is an option for her 25-year-old daughter wants an apology from Labrador-Grenfell Health.
A mother of a prominent ME sufferer and campaigner has admitted aiding and abetting the suicide of her daughter. Bridget Kathleen Gilderdale, 54, of Stonegate, near Heathfield, Sussex, pleaded guilty to the charge at Lewes Crown Court. But she denied a charge of attempted murder and one of aiding and abetting attempted suicide.
Bridget Kathleen Gilderdale, 54, known as Kay, was arrested at her home in Stonegate, near Heathfield, East Sussex, following the death of her daughter Lynn, 31, who suffered from ME, on 4 December last year. She pleaded guilty to the charge during a brief hearing at Lewes Crown Court today, but denied a charge of attempted murder and one of aiding and abetting attempted suicide. She is alleged to have committed the offences against her daughter, who was struck down with ME at the age of 14, between 2 December and 5 December.
Dignitas, which says that it is a nonprofit organisation, has not published its figures since 2004. Its rationale is that it is driven by its members (6,000 have signed up, 700 from Britain) and their desire to control the nature of their death. Yet even Ludwig Minelli, its director, admits that he rules like a “benign dictator”.
A man whose terminally ill partner committed suicide in Switzerland has been arrested on suspicion of helping him end his life. Alan Rees, 57, from Dalston in Hackney, east London, said he went with partner Raymond Cutkelvin to the Zurich base of euthanasia organisation Dignitas. Mr Cutkelvin, 58, who had inoperable pancreatic cancer, died there in February 2007.
Campaigner Debbie Purdy has called for an "open debate" on assisted suicide laws after her landmark court victory. Prosecutors are to clarify the law after Law Lords backed Ms Purdy's call for formal advice on the legal position of those who help a loved one to die.
The Supreme Court in the US state of Montana is due to begin hearing arguments to decide if severely ill people there have the constitutional right to ask their doctor to help them die. A lower court judgement last December decided that they did, but now the state of Montana is trying to have that ruling overturned.
People who stand to benefit financially from a person’s death are likely to be the ones prosecuted for assisting a suicide, under guidelines to be issued this week. The law will remain unchanged but new rules will detail the factors that are likely to lead to a prosecution, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said yesterday. Keir Starmer, QC, drew them up after the law lords backed Debbie Purdy, a multiple sclerosis sufferer who called for a policy statement on whether people who helped someone to kill themselves should be prosecuted. The policy, which will be issued on Wednesday, will aim to clarify when individuals are more likely to be prosecuted or more likely not to be, he said.
Guidelines on assisted suicide law will be published by the Director of Public Prosecutions this week to clarify when people are likely to be prosecuted. Keir Starmer QC told the BBC factors that would be considered included whether anyone helping in the suicide stood to gain financially. He said assisted suicide would remain an offence as the law was unchanged.
Britain To Clarify Policy on Euthanasia - Prosecution Factors Will Be Spelled Out By Karla Adam Special to The Washington Post Wednesday, September 23, 2009
VANCOUVER, B.C. — An Australian right-to-die group that wants to teach seriously ill patients how to end their lives has been turned away by the Vancouver public library over concerns that such an event could violate laws that prohibit assisted suicide. Melbourne-based Exit International wants to hold a workshop in November that would include information about which drugs patients can take to kill themselves, how to obtain them and how to take them. The Vancouver Public Library initially took the booking, but has since cancelled after receiving legal advice from its lawyers and local police, said central librarian Paul Whitney. "The library was told in what, for lawyers, I would describe as fairly unambiguous language that the program as presented by Exit International would be in contravention of the Criminal Code," Whitney said Monday. Federal law makes it a crime to counsel, aid or abet someone to kill themselves.
LONDON — Assisted suicide has been illegal in England for nearly 50 years. But, ordered by the courts to clarify the law, the country’s top prosecutor on Wednesday set out a list of conditions under which his office would be unlikely to prosecute people who helped friends or relatives kill themselves.
The Swiss Government is considering new laws that are likely to make it harder for foreigners to travel to clinics, such as Dignitas, to get help to end their life. Recently the British conductor Edward Downes and his wife, Joan, used the services of Dignitas. Unlike his wife, Sir Edward, 85, did not have a terminal illness. In June the Swiss justice minister, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, announced that two different draft pieces of legislation would be considered in parliament this autumn. "One is a complete ban on assisted suicide, and one is the introduction of stricter, clearer legislation," she said. Currently it is legal in Switzerland to assist in a suicide unless it can be proved that the assistant has a selfish motive. Opinion polls have always shown that about two thirds of the population have a liberal attitude towards self determined death. But the Swiss are opposed to commercial assisted suicide and the cost to the nation of investigating cases.