STRASBOURG (voa) – Europe’s highest human rights court has rejected a request by a terminally ill British woman to be allowed to commit suicide with her husband’s help.
The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights ruled Monday Britain did not violate the rights of Diane Pretty last October, when it said her husband had no right to help her end her life.
A British court had ruled last year that Mrs. Pretty’s husband could not be granted immunity from prosecution if he helped her die.
Suicide is legal in Britain, but helping someone commit suicide is a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Mrs. Pretty, 43, is paralyzed from the neck down. Doctors say she soon will die from motor neurone disease, a degenerative illness which affects motor functions.
Mrs. Pretty’s lawyers argued the British court ruling violated her rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. The British government lawyer said British law does not allow one person to deliberately cause the death another person.
Legal experts say Monday’s ruling may be a test case, since the Netherlands has already legalized assisted suicide and other countries are expected to adopt similar legislation.
