Article: Dean - UK Court Rules Against Paralysed Man In ‘Right To Die’ Case

Dean's Stroke Musing

The dark side of locked-in syndrome. FYI only,  I'm not going to further comment on this. -- Dean's Stroke Musing.
Original article UK Court Rules Against ...


A British man left paralysed from the neck down by a catastrophic stroke seven years ago lost his High Court battle on Thursday to gain a  legal right to end his life when he chooses.

Tony Nicklinson's condition means it is impossible for him to take his own life and he wants the legal right to have a doctor take his life without fear of prosecution. Since he suffered the stroke in 2005, the former rugby player, now 58, has had to endure what is known as locked-in syndrome.

"This means that most of my body is paralysed but my mind is as it was before the stroke."

"All I can move is my head, and the stroke took away my power of speech. Now I talk to people with a perspex spelling board or a computer operated by my eye blinks," he told CNN in an interview in June."

But while expressing sympathy for his situation, the High Court ruled Thursday that such a significant change to the law involving overturning the ban on voluntary euthanasia would have to be decided by lawmakers.

The judges also rejected a similar challenge to the law brought by a second man suffering locked-in syndrome, named only as Martin.  "The Court recognised that the cases raise profoundly difficult ethical, social and legal issues, but it judged that any change to the law must be a matter for Parliament to decide," a statement from the court said. said. And she said she wanted the judges to understand "the injustice of it all," as they considered his case.

"You or I could go out and take our lives at any time we want, whereas Tony, being the one who really needs that right, can't do this -- and he's only asking for what everyone else has got really, his right to take his own life, he wants that given back to him," she said. Before his stroke at age 51, the couple lived a comfortable life in the United Arab Emirates and traveled extensively.

Tony Nicklinson was a senior manager with a Greek civil engineering contractor, a job he enjoyed, and was chairman of the local sports club. Although he does not necessarily want to end his life straight away, he is frustrated by the indignity and tedium of his current condition, which hasn't changed for seven years and which doctors say could continue for years.

"Some people have in the past spoken to me in the loud, slow and deliberate tones normally reserved for the deaf or daft. I am neither," he said.