Clerics slip a suicide note under the parliamentary door

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If she is well enough, Debbie Purdy will today be scanning the news to find out whether the amendment to the Coroners and Justice Bill receives a favourable response in the House of Lords.
Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis, wants her husband to accompany her to a place, probably in Switzerland, where she can end her life should the suffering become too much.

Under the current law, her husband could be prosecuted on his return to the UK.

But Lord Falconer's amendment to the bill, which would end this state of affairs, has provoked the wrath of three of Britain's religious leaders - the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of Westminster and the Chief Rabbi.

They have written to the Daily Telegraph accusing the legislators of attempting to legalise euthanasia by the back door.

Yet the holy alliance do make a valid point, which should be addressed.

They say the amendment would put at risk vulnerable people, especially the sick who are anxious about the burden the illness may be placing on others.

They could also have mentioned the prospect of unscrupulous relatives encouraging the sick to take the "early death option". Sure, this would not be the norm but, should it happen only once, it would destroy the rationale behind the Falconer amendment.

Purdy and her supporters would argue that, as religious leaders who support the right to life, the clerics would never agree to the right of a person to end their life.

But for those of us less concerned with matters theological, it is about the right to a dignified end.

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