British Section of the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life

If you kill another human being, however much you love them, you should face a court of law

Shockingly, even today, it appears that the British courts can get it right. Their record in dealing with “mercy killings” provides evidence that we do not need the blunt instrument of a new law legalising euthanasia/assisted suicide.

Robert Cook, 60, suffocated his wife of 29 years with a plastic bag after she took an overdose. Vanessa Cook had worsening multiple sclerosis and had written of her wish to die. On Friday her husband received a 12-month suspended sentence, after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility. The judge called it an exceptional case. Last November Stephen Jobling, 52, was also given a 12-month suspended sentence after a bungled suicide pact with his ailing 72-year-old wife. Both survived taking a drug overdose.

Not all “mercy killings” are seen in the same way. Last May a jury found Frank Lund, 52, guilty of murder for smothering his wife. Patricia Lund, 62, suffered from depression and irritable bowel syndrome, but was not terminally ill. The judge called the case “highly unusual, if not unique” and imposed a tariff of only three years.

All of which proves that courts are still capable of deciding each case on its merits, taking a humane view of people whose lives are blighted by the suffering of loved ones while starting from the premise stated by the judge in the Lund case: “It is the duty of citizens in this country not to take any steps which might lead to the death of another citizen.”

The danger now is that a sweeping new law on euthanasia and assisted suicide would give the official nod to taking “any steps which might lead to the death of another citizen”. We could end up with Swiss-style euthanasia clinics, where Brits who are not dying but feeling depressed have already gone to kill themselves.

Even without a law, the trend for viewing euthanasia as legitimate can lead to tragic cases. A drunken Jennifer Allwood decided it would be a “mercy” to smother her 67-year-old cancer-stricken father - who didn't want to die. He fought back and survived. In December Allwood received a 12-month suspended sentence for attempted murder after the court decided she had not hastened his subsequent death. Her bitter family said she got off far too lightly: “It's just giving the impression that any relative who's got cancer, let's kill them off, it's quicker.”

That impression would be written into law by legalising assisted suicide. You don't have to be a religious nutter to oppose it. The libertarian Marxist in me is against giving the courts wider jurisdiction over our lives. But one thing that should still come before a judge and jury is the taking of a life, however much the accused loved the deceased. One universal right I don't want from the State is the right to kill my wife - or vice versa.