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LONDON, Nov 29: A terminally ill woman lost a high-profile court battle on Thursday to take her life by assisted suicide in a test case for British euthanasia laws.
Wheelchair-bound Diane Pretty, a 43-year-old mother of two, waged a lengthy court battle to allow her husband help her die without being prosecuted.
Pretty suffers from an advanced form of motor neurone disease and her bid to “die with dignity” had been seized upon by the euthanasia lobby as their best shot at changing the law.
But in their ruling, the five law lords of the House of Lords, the highest court in the land, backed a previous High Court decision that human rights were aimed at protecting the right to live with dignity — not a right to die with dignity.
They said that although suicide was no longer a crime in Britain, it remained against the law to assist another’s suicide.
“Mercy killing is in law killing,” Lord Bingham said in his ruling.
Although sympathetic with her plight, the lords said they were not entitled to act as moral or ethical arbiters and were committed to “applying the law as it stood”.
Pretty, a crumpled figure paralysed from the neck down, contracted the brain-wasting disease two years ago. She said every type of medical treatment available had failed her and her last wish was to be allowed to die with dignity.
LEGAL BATTLE: In the early stages of her legal battle just months ago, Pretty was seen outside court smiling, with her husband Brian ever by her side. But the disease swiftly ate into her and left Pretty too ill to attend later court hearings.
Legal sources said the Pretty family had now exhausted all options under British law and there were no immediate indications of whether they might seek redress in Europe.
Pretty’s lawyers argued that the ban on assisted suicide infringed her basic human rights and right to privacy.
They appealed to the Lords after the High Court dismissed her case.
“She is profoundly frightened by the thought of the distressing and undignified death she will inevitably have to endure, and very strongly wishes to control how and when she dies,” Pretty’s lawyer Philip Havers told the law lords.
But under current laws, Pretty’s husband could face a jail term of up to 14 years if he helped her take her life.
Right-to-die groups had championed Pretty as a cause celebre and hoped her case would lead to a softening in euthanasia laws.—Reuters
