According to Irwin, at least 115 Britons have sought assisted suicide through the group called Dignitas in Zurich in the last 10 years. Posted on 07/30/2009 1:16:11 PM PDT by wagglebee
LONDON, July 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Euthanasia activist and disgraced medical practitioner, Michael Irwin, 77, has issued an open letter to local police challenging them to arrest him for his involvement in the February 2007 assisted suicide of 58-year-old Raymond Cutkelvin. He has said he wants to be a "martyr" on behalf of those U.K. residents who help their relatives commit suicide and who could thereby face up to 14 years in jail.
According to Irwin, at least 115 Britons have sought assisted suicide through the group called Dignitas in Zurich in the last 10 years.
On his trip, Cutkelvin was accompanied by his homosexual partner Alan Cutkelvin Rees, Irwin, a close friend, and a relative. Cutkelvin suffered from an inoperable tumor of the pancreas.
Irwin has also admitted to helping Cutkelvin with payment for his suicide by sending £1500 to Dignitas on his behalf.
According to the U.K.'s 1961 Suicide Act, it is illegal to "aid, abet, counsel or procure the suicide of another." To violate the law carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison. The law applies to helping someone go abroad for suicide as well, though it has hardly been enforced against those travelling to Zurich. According to Irwin, while some have been questioned upon their return to the U.K., previously only one person had been arrested, in 2006.
Alan Cutkelvin Rees, Raymond's partner, was arrested on July 17th, however, and is on bail until September 23rd. Irwin's letter was written in response to this arrest.
"I have agreed to be interviewed by two CID [Criminal Investigation Department] officers at the Shoreditch police station on Friday, 31 July," wrote Irwin in the letter. "Then, I will openly explain my role (especially giving advice, moral support and financial assistance) in helping Raymond Cutkelvin to have a doctor-assisted suicide in Zurich in 2007.
"As Alan Cutkelvin Rees has already been arrested for his involvement in this death," he continues, "I will also expect to be arrested on 31 July. If I am not, then there should be an admission that it was a mistake to have arrested Alan earlier this month especially as, in view of the past history, I am 99 per cent certain that the advice of the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions] will be that Alan should not be charged in September."
Irwin, the former chairman of the British Voluntary Euthanasia Society (VES), now Dignity in Dying, was arrested in 2003 for his openly-admitted involvement in attempting to assist Patrick Kneen in committing suicide. He was later expelled from the VES for his refusal to abide by the law, and in 2005, was removed from the register of the General Medical Council.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
"Victory": Assisted Suicide Amendment Defeated in British House of Lords
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09070805.html
I hope he gets the full 14 years.
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Wow. That’s quite a list.
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I hit abuse so it will get removed.
It’s impressive.
Took me a long time to understand what she meant by the phrase.
The way things are going there lately, he is more likely to get a position in the NHS or the NICE.
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