Woman who travelled with husband to assisted dying clinic will not face charges | Assisted dying
A woman who went to an assisted dying clinic in Switzerland with her husband was told she would not be charged.
Louise Shackleton, 59, surrendered to police as she returned from Dignitas following the death of her husband last December. North Yorkshire police this week said it was not in the public interest to prosecute him, despite the Crown Prosecution Service concluding there was evidence of assisted suicide.
In England and Wales, “assisting suicide” is an offense punishable by a maximum of 14 years in prison. A similar law exists in Northern Ireland. There is no specific crime in Scotland such as “assisting suicide”, but helping someone die can lead to a charge of premeditated manslaughter.
Shackleton’s husband Andrew decided to end his life at Dignitas in Zurich six years after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
He said his condition worsened to the point that he choked on his food. He considered his options for ending his life and decided on assisted death at Dignitas.
“It was his choice, his autonomy, how he died and when he wanted to die,” Shackleton said. He told ITV Tyne Tees.
She sought advice before going to the clinic with her husband and handed herself into police at Manchester airport last December.
“I was literally crying for 24 hours and I couldn’t see properly and I could only see the uniforms. It wasn’t actually the police, it was Border Force but they were absolutely wonderful to me. They were so kind and caring,” she said.
After learning that he would not be prosecuted, he said: “The worst thing in my life had already happened. Nothing anyone could do to me could have made it worse.”
“But for my children and my sons, it was so nice to be able to break the news to them that they didn’t have to worry about their mother anymore.”
HE He told the mirror: “I experienced the unbearable pressure of the lawsuit that would be filed against me.
“If my husband had taken his life in this country, the scenario would have been very different. I would not have been blamed, I would have been supported… However, if someone decided to take his life in a foreign country, the family member who was with him would automatically come under suspicion.”
A North Yorkshire police spokesman said: “This is clearly a complex and sensitive investigation requiring detailed review by the Crown Prosecution Service.
“Although they concluded that the evidentiary test for assisted suicide was met, it was decided that it was not in the public interest to prosecute.”
Dignity in Death, which is campaigning for a change in the law to allow assisted dying for terminally ill adults, said the decision “provides significant relief for a grieving family. The trauma of a months-long investigation reveals the cruelty of the status quo regarding assisted dying in the UK. No one should have to endure a criminal investigation for an act of mercy at the end of their loved one’s life.”
The House of Lords has begun a detailed review of a private member’s bill by Labor MP Kim Leadbeater to legalize assisted dying in England and Wales. The bill was read a third time in the House of Commons in June.
Dignity in Dying said: “We cannot allow more families to suffer under a law that penalizes compassion and drags heartbreaking, end-of-life decisions into criminal investigations.
“The status quo is not neutral, it is actively harmful. It forces dying people to go abroad for a dignified death and leaves their loved ones facing police interrogations, investigations and legal uncertainty at the worst time of their lives.”
