Hopefully, assisted suicide laws are one aspect of the legal system that you should never need to be concerned about. After all, solicitors Worcestershire or all over the country are hardly kept busy with such matters. However, this complicated part of the legal system still tends to stir up more fervent emotion than most others.
Following a number of recent cases, the Director of Public Prosecutions was backed so far into a corner, he was left with no other alternative than to seek clarification on where exactly the law lies with regard to assisting someone to commit suicide. It has now been made a little clearer that it is a criminal offence to help anyone to end their life and this can result in a term of imprisonment of up to 14 years.
But, and it is a massive BUT! This does not make any allowances for people that may be helping their loved ones to die that will end periods of sustained and agonising suffering. These people will be perfectly entitled to take Rover the dog to the vet to be mercifully euthanized but they will be branded as criminals if they fail to cope with their loved one's pleas and suffering until they meet their natural end.
Clearly, these laws have been legislated by people that have never had to experience such an horrendous set of circumstances. Equally bad is the fact that this is yet another law where we are allowing outdated religious beliefs to get in the way of protecting what is actually right for humanity.
I strongly believe that this law will change at some time in the future, I am just hopeful that Parliament wakes up and smells the coffee sooner rather than later; in order to protect the unfortunate individuals who are only doing what is right for the people they hold most dear.