On October 16 it was reported that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DoPP), Alison Saunders, has relaxed prosecution guidelines for doctors and nurses who assist a person in committing suicide.
They are now less likely to face prosecution unless they are directly involved in that person’s care, in which case the deterrent still applies. Dr Peter Saunders of Care Not Killing said: ‘This is very concerning, the DoPP is effectively, at a stroke of her pen, decriminalising assisted suicide by medical staff as long as they don’t have an existing relationship with the patient. It weakens the protections for sick and vulnerable people.’
Engineered people
The Right to Life Charitable Trust
Some leading international scientists have, in early October, raised concerns that tests on animals have fuelled fears that people born using the ‘three parent’ technique could face problems such as reduced fertility, shorter lives, learning difficulties and cancer.
One, Stuart Newman, highlights that any person brought into being using the controversial technique will be a product of ‘wholesale genetic engineering’.
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