Britain seems to edging closer towards a "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy on assisted suicide.

Its Court of Appeal recently refused to give assurances that the husband of a 45-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis would not be prosecuted if he helped her to kill herself. Debbie Purdy had argued that being denied the right to die at a time of her choosing breached her right to respect for private and family life under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Hence the letter of the British law remains unaltered.

On the other hand, the court sympathised with Ms Purdy and her husband, Omar Fuente, and hinted strongly that there would be no prosecution if an assisted suicide did occur, especially after the director of public prosecution had declined to investigate the death of a quadriplegic young rugby player who travelled to Switzerland with his parents to commit suicide.

As a result, Ms Purdy felt heartened by the decision: "I feel that I have won my argument, despite having lost the appeal. I am very grateful for, and respect the ruling of the Appeal Court. They have done everything they can do to clarify that, given the Dan James decision, Omar would be unlikely to be prosecuted if he were to accompany me abroad for an assisted death, and we are therefore one step closer to the clarification I need."

The head of the euthanasia group Dignity in Dying also felt quite chipper after the verdict. Sarah Wootton commented: "The courts have done all they can. They make quite clear that only parliament has the authority to change the law. If there’s no public interest in prosecuting, there must be a public interest in updating the law to remove doubt." ~ BMJ, Feb 20