Diane Pretty, a 43-year-old British woman with incurable motor neuron disease, has died from the disease, but only after losing her assisted-suicide case before the European Court of Human Rights. The court ruled in April that the fact assisted suicide is illegal in the UK did not constitute a breach of her rights. She died May 11.
Pretty, who was paralyzed from the neck down, was seeking to end her life with the help of her husband, Brian. They brought their petition to the European court after losing an appeal in Britain (see CMAJ 2002;166:232). Following the ruling, Pretty said the law had stripped her of her rights. Her husband launched a Web site, www.justice4diane.org.uk, that included an online petition.
The British Medical Association backed the court ruling, but noted that “it is only right that there should be periodic legal review in light of changing legislation and societal views about human rights.”
Groups opposed to euthanasia expressed satisfaction with the ruling. A spokesperson for the campaign group Alert said that “society should protect [the disabled], not kill them.”
In another case, a 43-year-old paralyzed woman won the right to turn off the ventilator that was keeping her alive. That case, involving a former social worker identified as Ms. B, affirmed a patient's right to refuse treatment. — Mary Helen Spooner, West Sussex, UK