New assisted suicide rules ‘will lead to botched DIY deaths’

Allowing relatives to help loved ones die will lead to "botched" mercy killings, a medical expert has warned.

Dr Michael Irwin said guidelines published today on assisted suicide will only create confusion by encouraging people who lack medical training to help in "DIY" deaths.

The doctor, who backs assisted suicide, said there is a danger that seriously ill patients who wish to end their lives will be denied a humane death.

Instead, he is calling for the Government to bring in laws which regulate mercy killings properly.

The measures should ensure that anyone wishing to end their life is first vetted by at least two doctors and that these medics then assist in their death.

Dr Irwin said: "It's like reclassifying cannabis. People will think these guidelines mean that assisted suicide is now legal.

"There's a great danger that anyone assisting someone will lack medical knowledge so the result will be botched suicides.

"What actually needs to happen is for the law to be changed so doctors evaluate if a person is terminally ill.

"At least one should know the patient well. A doctor should then be present to ensure the patient gets the right medication (to end their life)."

Gordon Brown has spoken out against any moves to legalise assisted suicide despite growing support for relatives who help loved ones take their own life for compassionate reasons.

At least 100 Britons have travelled to the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland in a bid to end their lives.

Dr Irwin is among those who have assisted in these deaths and is on police bail over the death of London businessman Raymond Cutkelvin. Mr Cutkelvin, 58, was terminally ill when he went to the clinic in 2007.