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Assisted Dying

My Lords, those who help relatives who cannot travel to Switzerland by themselves to commit suicide are clearly as guilty of a serious crime as those who drive a getaway car to a bank robbery. However, whether they are prosecuted is a matter for discretion by the DPP. Is this a tolerable state of affairs? Even with guidelines, uncertainty remains. My noble friend Lord Carlile defends the law as it stands, but someone who is an even more eminent lawyer in this House—the noble and learned Lord, Lord Bingham—has indicated that the number who go to Switzerland for this purpose shows that the law needs overhauling. Further, who can fail to feel revulsion at the different treatment of Mrs Inglis and Mrs Gilderdale? They were charged with different offences in different circumstances, but both acted nobly out of deep compassion to assist in the suicide of a loved one. There were very different outcomes: one was acquitted; the other has to serve nine years. In the case of Mrs Inglis, if the jury had had any guts or compassion it would have defied the law, as juries have with unjust laws in the past, and acquitted her. Our law in the field of assisting suicide is not only an ass; in the words of Mr Bumble, it is a disgrace to our society.