CPS considering 13 suspected cases of assisted dying in England and Wales

Thirteen cases of suspected assisted dying are being considered by prosecutors in England and Wales, according to the latest data.Encouraging or assisting the suicide or attempted suicide of another person is against the law in England and Wales, under the Suicide Act 1961.The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said its latest data showed 209 cases that have been recorded as assisted dying have been referred to it by the police between 1 April 2009 and 31 March this year.This was up from 199 cases that had been referred by the end of March last year.Of the 209 cases, 131 were not taken forward by prosecutors and 42 were withdrawn by police, the CPS said.It added that across two decades, six cases of encouraging or assisting dying have been successfully prosecuted, and two cases have been charged and acquitted after trial.Eight cases were referred for prosecution for homicide or other serious crime, rather than the offence of assisted dying, the service added.On its website, the CPS said: “Such cases [of suspected assisted dying] are by their very nature complex and sensitive, not least due to the tragic events that surround them.“Conduct in these cases can range from circumstances where a victim is being pressured to end their life, to actions wholly motivated by compassion.”It added that CPS guidance for prosecutors in such cases “includes specific public interest factors tending in favour of prosecution and those tending against prosecution”.The latest data comes as the Westminster bill proposing to legalise assisted dying continues to be debated but looks likely to run out of time to become law.The terminally ill adults (end of life) bill, which passed the Commons last year, has been the subject of days of debate by peers in the Lords chamber.The proposals, which would allow terminally ill adults resident in England and Wales for at least 12 months to apply for an assisted death subject to the approval of two doctors and an expert panel, will fall if they do not complete all the parliamentary stages before the end of the current session in the coming weeks.After publication of the latest CPS figures, a man who accompanied his wife to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland told how he had faced police investigation when he returned home and spoke of the “additional stress and jeopardy” he endured.Dave Sowry, board member of pro-change campaign group My Death, My Decision, said: “In my case, the police decided to take no further action.“What sort of country do we live in where accompanying someone who has made a personal choice at the end of their life results in such additional stress and jeopardy?”But Care Not Killing, which is opposed to a change in the law, has previously said: “The political priority must be to give patients a genuine choice through world-class hospice care, not turning doctors into executioners because fixing palliative care is too difficult and costly. “As we have repeatedly said, we urgently need much more care, not killing.” In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org