Viewing Thread:
"This is ridiculous..."

From AOL News:

THE European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the husband of terminally-ill Diane Pretty cannot help her to commit suicide.

She wants her husband Brian to be allowed to help her end her life without fear of prosecution.

The European court ruling was her last hope of a legal seal of approval to what she sees as her right to die with dignity.

The 43-year-old, who lives in Luton, Bedfordshire, is dying from motor neurone disease and her life expectancy is described as "very poor".

The mother-of-two turned to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg after the Director of Public Prosecutions refused to promise immunity for Brian and subsequent appeals were rejected.

Despite being paralysed from the neck down Mrs Pretty travelled with her husband by ambulance from her home to Strasbourg last month to be present for the half-day case in front of the Human Rights judges.

She heard her lawyer argue that denying her the right to an assisted death when she chooses is a breach of the Human Rights Convention, which outlaws "inhuman or degrading treatment".

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That's ridiculous. She wants to end her life. She's obviously reached the conclusion after discussions with her husband etc.

Why can't she go how she wants to. She wants to die with dignity, why do the courst have to get involved? I understand that euthanasia is illegal in this country, so her hsuband could go to jail.

I think that is wrong.

Thoughts?

I'm sure she isn't the first or the last person who asks to be allowed to do such a thing. I can see it from the other side in that where do they draw the line, how many others will want to do the same??

I do disagree with it though, we should be allowed to live life as we want, but my personal belief is that nobody should ever want to take their own life, no matter what circumstances. Life isn't something that we can just take for granted. Also what about her husband, will he be able to go through with it and live with knowing what he has done?

I think there are a lot of issues that are unknown in this case. We will all have different views.

If you haven't already, why not sign the petition on her website?

http://www.justice4diane.org.uk/

i just dont know how the Human Rights people can do this to her

They won't cos they dont care, if they were to be a big public outcry and plenty of protests the'd let her die. But they don't want to waste their time on one person, lets face it they couldn't care if she was dead or alive or if she never existed

Yeah but the point is sovereignty here. I agree with the fact that she deserves to have the right to make the decision. But it is not for the courts to make the decision. That is for the government, but they are wimps and don't want to say either way. They have a chance now, with publice opinion as it is, they could bring in the legislation without too much argument.





But I bet they won't!

If she were an animal in the same condition, she'd have no choice - she'd be "put to sleep" to prevent her suffering.

So the courts are basically saying, "tough - you'll have to suffer".

Which is wrong. Not much better than torturing someone, if you ask me.

The problem is that it would have set a dangerous precedent. I think I would have made the same decision as the judge. Look at it this way:

The government is not willing to make any legislation on euthenasia (mainly because it doesn't like to alienate itself from anyone), therefore the judge only has the current legislation to work from.

This means that for the judge to allow this to happen, they must overturn the legislation, or find a way around it. This is dangerous. Without proper legislation, what is to stop the ruling being abused? Answer - nothing.

Meanwhile, because the ruling is made in the courts, the government can quite happily sit back and blame the whole thing on the judge, saying, well we didn't create the legislation, he overturned it.

What should happen: The judge has made the correct decision. He was not elected, the goverment has been. Tony Blair and the government now need to decide whether they want to overturn the existing legislation and follow Holland and Belgium into legalising this so-called crime. If they do, then it will be a fine day for the English Legal System. There will be proper and complete guidelines on euthenasia, and this poor woman can get her last wishes granted.

Small Frog wrote:
> I'd just roll my wheelchair off the top of a really high building if I
> was her. It'd do the same thing, and she wouldn't suffer if she can't
> feel any pain.

she's paralyised she can't do anything but force half a smile, she wants her hursband to kill her cos che can't do it herself

goverment feel that they have a right over everybody, they like to have power over people. So the only way this womens ever gonna die is if she waits until natural courses, or if her husband illegally kills her.

The problem with attempting to commit suicide is that you could fail, or get stopped in the last second.

I think how she chooses to live/end her life is of no business but her own.

*cue whiny do-gooders "But what if she changed her mind" now*