LONDON (Reuters) - A paralysed car crash victim and the widow of a man who had locked-in-syndrome lost a legal bid at Britain's highest court on Wednesday for the right to assisted suicide.
Supreme Court judges ruled seven-to-two against the appeal brought by Paul Lamb, who has only been able to move his right hand since his accident in 1990, and Jane Nicklinson, whose husband Tony was paralysed after a stroke, court documents showed.
Tony Nicklinson, who was conscious but unable to communicate verbally, refused food and medication after he lost an earlier legal bid to end his life with a doctor's help in 2012 and died a week later.
Both appeals had argued doctors should be allowed to help end the men's lives, as their conditions meant they could not do so themselves.
The men's legal battle has grabbed headlines in Britain and fuelled a debate over euthanasia and assisted suicide.
In the court statement, five of the judges declared that the court had the legal authority to rule that an overarching ban on assisted suicide breached the right to a private family life as laid out in the European Convention of Human Rights.
The judges did not go one step further and rule that a blanket ban actually did breach the convention, but campaigners said that the judges' acknowledgment that they had the power to do so was a positive development.
Dignity in Dying, which supports assisted dying, said on its website the ruling put "Parliament on notice that the Suicide Act is under pressure and may be declared incompatible with human rights law."
Care Not Killing, a group that campaigns against euthanasia, welcomed the judges' overall ruling.
"The law in England and Wales remains unchanged, with the Court recognising that it exists to protect vulnerable, elderly and disabled people," said spokesman Andrew Fergusson.
Suicide itself is not a crime in Britain but anyone who helps another person to kill themselves commits the offence of assisted suicide and can be jailed for up to 14 years.
A person who carries out euthanasia can be prosecuted for murder.
(Reporting by Andrew Heavens; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/britons-lose-die-case-campaigners-see-progress-120319202.html
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