X-Message-Number: 17793
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 23:20:18 -0700
From: Olaf Henny <>
Subject: Woman Loses Right to Die Case
References: <>

Woman loses 'right to die' case

October 18, 2001 Posted: 1011 GMT


LONDON, England -- A terminally-ill British woman has lost a landmark court
battle to "die
with dignity" in a setback for supporters of euthanasia.

Diane Pretty, 42, who has suffered from motor neurone disease since 1999, had
wanted her
husband, Brian, to be immune from prosecution if he helped her commit suicide.

But three High Court judges in London dismissed Pretty's challenge to the
long-standing UK
position on euthanasia on Thursday, saying her human right was "to live with
dignity, not die
with dignity."

The Prettys argued that the refusal to overturn a decision by the director of
public prosecutions
infringed their human rights by subjecting Diane to degrading treatment and by
failing to respect
her private life.

The wheelchair-bound mother is paralysed from the neck down and is too disabled
to kill herself.
Helping a person commit suicide carries a maximum 14-year jail term in the UK.


Her disease is now at an advanced stage with Pretty unable to speak and having 
to
be fed through
a tube. Her intellect and decision-making capacity are unimpaired.

Lawyers in her case, which had been backed by the Voluntary Euthanasia Society
and Liberty,

argued at a two-day hearing last week that by denying her the chance to "die 
with
dignity," the
law was infringing her human rights. They said Pretty was "frightened and
distressed at the

suffering and indignity she will have to endure if the disease is allowed to run
its course."

It was not illegal to commit suicide but it was against the law to assist in a
suicide. The "terrible
irony" of the case was that she was unable to take her own life without
assistance, they added.

A key issue in the case was whether the director of public prosecutions had the
legal power to
give an undertaking not to prosecute her husband of 25 years if he helped his
wife commit
suicide.


Deborah Annetts, VES director, said: "This case has brought about a shift in the
way that the
issues of assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia are discussed.

"There is an increasing understanding that the individual's human rights must
take precedence
over what the medical profession feels is `best for the patient'."


The judges ruling on the case were, Lord Justice Tuckey, Lady Justice Hale and 
Mr
Justice
Silber.

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