Author Terry Pratchett Calls for Legalization of Assisted Suicide in England and Wales

Successful author Sir Terry Pratchett plans to call for the legalization of assisted suicide in England and Wales during the annual Dimbleby Lecture today.   Pratchett has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.  During his lecture, Pratchett plans to “offer himself as a ‘test case’ for an assisted suicide tribunal, a body that he believes should be set up to give people legal permission to end their life with medical help.”  Rosemary Bennett, Sir Terry Pratchett calls for assisted death to be legalised, TimesOnline, Jan. 31, 2001.

Currently, assisted suicide is illegal in England and Wales.  Recently, the top prosecutor in England released interim guidelines for determining when someone will be prosecuted under the law.   Final guidelines are expected sometime this spring.

See also my prior post. 

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this to my attention.