A really helpful summary of the background to the law relating to assisted suicide has been published by the House of Commons library in the form of a Commons Library Standard Note. As well as setting out the provisions of the Suicide Act, it provides a useful summary of the relevant cases, the Director of Public Prosecution’s policy for prosecuting cases of assisted suicide and contains information about Dignitas and other stakeholders.
Depending on the outcome of the Tony Nicklinson case, the guidance may well need amending but, in the meantime, we would recommend it as being extremely informative on the subject.
