Right to die case back in court

STRASBOURG, France -- A terminally-ill British woman who wants her husband to help her die has taken her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Physically unable to take her own life, and with a life expectancy described as "very poor," 43-year-old Diane Pretty appeared before Europe's highest human rights court to argue that she should be given the right to die in dignity with her husband's assistance.

She is seeking to overturn a British appeals court ruling which said her husband could not be granted immunity from prosecution if helped her commit suicide.

Pretty is paralysed from the neck down by motor neuron disease and is confined to a wheelchair.

Her lawyers told the court's panel of seven judges that Pretty's rights under the European Convention of Human Rights had been violated by the British ruling that was forcing her to undergo "degrading treatment or punishment."

Pretty's lawyers also complained that British authorities violated her right to life and right to self determination by not allowing her to chose whether she wants to live or die.

Her legal team, led by civil rights group Liberty, have argued that the British Suicide Act should be altered to account for situations such as that of Pretty.

Liberty said Tuesday's hearing in the French city of Strasbourg was due to last under three hours, but ruling was not expected for weeks.

The case was submitted to the court on January 22, and was given urgent priority, in consideration of Pretty's fragile condition.

Pretty arrived at the court by ambulance and was accompanied by doctors as she entered the chamber.

"I can see in her eyes that she has had enough," her husband Brian Pretty told the BBC before the hearing.

Suicide is legal in Britain, but helping someone else kill themselves is a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

In October, the British High Court ruled that Brian Pretty could not be guaranteed immunity from prosecution. Britain's highest court of appeal upheld that ruling in November.

British government lawyer Jonathan Crow expressed sympathy for the "tragic circumstances" of the case, but he said the law was clear.

"A simple and clear cut distinction has been drawn," he said. "Domestic law simply does not allow one person to intervene deliberately to bring about another person's death."

Pretty, a mother of two, said before the lords rejected her final appeal under domestic law last year: "I have fought this disease every step. If I am allowed to decide when and how I die, I will feel that I have wrested some autonomy back."

The Pretty case has fuelled a long-running debate in Britain over euthanasia, assisted suicide and people's right to choose when to die.

In a separate case, a British woman paralysed from the neck down and to breathe or move unaided, is asking the courts to allow her to die.

The 51-year-old woman, who cannot be named, is believed to be the first woman in Britain to seek court approval for her life support machine to be switched off.