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European Court takes “right to die” case
Woman seeking suicide help
The European Court of Human Rights has heard the case of Diane Pretty—a terminally ill British woman who is seeking permission for her husband to help her commit suicide.

Diane Pretty, who has motor neurone disease, lost her appeal to the Law Lords in Britain last year, with the court making it clear that if her husband Brian should help her to die he could face up to 14 years in jail.

Lawyers for the mother of two argued that the Human Rights Act gives her the right to choose when to die. And the European Court at Strasbourg agreed to give her case top priority in scheduling because her physical condition is worsening rapidly.

Jonathan Crow, representing the British government, told the court he was sorry about the “tragic circumstance” of Pretty’s case. However, he added: “In the United Kingdom a simple and clear cut distinction has been drawn. Domestic law simply does not allow one person to intervene deliberately to bring about another person’s death.”

Crow pointed out that assisted suicide is also an offense in many other countries that had also signed up to the Human Rights Convention—including Austria, Poland, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. And he dismissed the suggestion that the “right to life” automatically conferred on individuals a “right to die,” adding that palliative care could allow “death with dignity.”

Pretty’s lawyer, Philip Havers, said the case concerned a “courageous and determined and dying woman.” He said Pretty was facing a humiliating and degrading death which would be “distressing and undignified.”

He said, “She wishes to avoid such a death. In English law she would be free to do so if she were physically capable of taking her own life, unassisted. But this she cannot do because she is so disabled. In order to avoid the suffering, the indignity, and the humiliation, she needs some assistance.”

He added, “Her intellect and capacity to make decisions are unimpaired by her disease. She is neither vulnerable nor in need of protection. Her death is imminent and cannot be avoided. If the disease is allowed to run its course she will endure suffering and indignity which can be avoided.”

Pretty appeared in court after making a 12-hour journey in a private ambulance accompanied by paramedics and an intensive-care nurse. After the hearing Diane and Brian Pretty spoke of their hopes of victory. Mr. Pretty told the BBC that the trip—the couple’s first outside the UK—had been “poignant.” He said: “Our very first trip abroad is to come here to ask for Diane’s right to die.”

The decision of the European court—from which there is no right to appeal—has not yet been rendered.