With the recent failure of MS sufferer Debbie Purdy’s appeal to the govenrment to clarify the uncertainty surrounding the assisted suicide law, the intensely debated case for and against euthanasia is thrust into the public sphere once more.

Debbie, now 45, has suffered from multiple sclerosis since 1995, and has been a wheelchair user since 2001. She is now coming to a point where she fears that she will lose control over the upper half of her body too, and wanted some clarity to be provided about the euthanasia laws. Technically, assisting in someone’s death in any small way is a criminal offence, and can be punishable of up to fourteen years under the 1961 Suicide Act. Yet, according to Liberal Democrat MP Dr. Evan Harris, over 100 cases of assisted suicide have been taken to court, but no-one has ever been prosecuted. If this be true, it would make sense for Parliament to at least review the laws surrounding euthanasia, if not change them entirely.

For anti-euthanasia group Care Not Killing, legalising assisted suicide would not provide the care and the protection for people when they are at their most vulnerable. They feel that by making the process legal they would be pressuring people who suffer from long-term illnesses into making a decision to end their own life with the help of others. By keeping euthanasia illegal, they feel that this removes this pressure. But what of the other side of the coin? Counter organisation Dignity in Dying wish for people who are suffering to have greater access and greater choice at the end of their life, with access to assisted suicide if needs be.

The fact that other countries such as Switzerland have a system in place precisely for assisted suicides slightly undermines the argument against the legalisation. For sufferers such as Debbie, she not only has to leave the country to die with dignity, but she will also have to take into consideration the consequences that could face her husband Omar Puente when he returns home. Potentially, she could still die with the fear that her husband may go to prison for assisting with her death in a very small way. So how much longer can the government continue to force their citizens to other countries so they no longer have to deal with life changing conditions?

Well, that depends on your stance against assisted suicide. Care Not Killing would probably say that they can continue this dance of uncertainty forever, and that would suit them just fine. But what of those who suffer from terminal illnesses such as Debbie? Surely this uncertainty only makes the process all the more traumatic than perhaps it need be? If the government put their foot down and clarified their position in relation to euthanasia, then everyone would know where they stood. Surely that is better for everyone, whether you are for or against it.