Assisted Dying

Lord Pannick Excerpts

Monday 13th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Pannick]

My Lords, the DPP has done a good job. His policy promotes the three main objectives which the Law Lords indicated, in the Purdy case, are vital in this sensitive area of law. First, the policy recognises the autonomy of the individual—a factor ignored by some speakers in this debate. The position is very simple: the able bodied may lawfully seek to end their life but the autonomy of the disabled person, vitally, depends on the assistance of others. The second objective advanced by the policy is to protect the sick and the vulnerable from being put under pressure to end their lives. The third objective is to introduce greater certainty into the law. I hope that the success of this policy—and it has been successful—will now encourage Parliament to show the necessary maturity to address these important issues as questions of legal rights and wrongs, not to continue to leave these matters to prosecutorial discretion, however compassionate its exercise.