LONDON, March 22: A British woman paralysed from the neck down on Friday won the right to die “peacefully and with dignity” in a landmark case that puts patients’ wishes first.

The 43-year-old social worker, who can now effectively sign her own death sentence by having her life support machine turned off, was given the court decision by video link to her hospital bed.

High Court Judge Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, clearly moved by a life-and-death ruling in one of Britain’s most emotive court cases, praised the woman’s courage and determination.

Victory for “Miss B” — who cannot be named for legal reasons — follows a growing clamour by patients to decide when life is no longer tolerable.

Doctors treating her said it was against their ethics to switch off the machine needed to keep Miss B alive.

A ruptured blood vessel in the woman’s neck a year ago left her paralysed and unable to breathe unaided.

Voluntary Euthanasia Society director Deborah Annetts called the ruling “a victory for common sense” while opponents of euthanasia condemned the decision as a very worrying precedent.

But it was welcomed by the British Medical Association with Dr Michael Wilks, chairman of its ethics committee, saying: “Every competent adult has the right to refuse medical treatment, even when this may lead to their death.”

However there is always the possibility of technological advances changing the prospects of patients such as “Superman” star Christopher Reeve, paralysed in a riding accident.

“Christopher Reeve is hoping for some new technology to improve his paralysis. He wants to hang on in the hope that’s going to happen,” Wilks told Sky News.

The judge said Miss B was now entitled to “pain-relieving drugs and palliative care to ease her suffering and permit her life to end peacefully and with dignity”.

The hospital said it would not appeal against the ruling.—Reuters