Legal euthanasia campaigner dies

Diane Pretty had lost her legal case in the European Court of Human Rights

LONDON, England -- A terminally-ill British woman who lost her legal battle to allow her husband to assist her suicide, has died.

Diane Pretty, who had taken her case up to the European Court of Human Rights, died at a hospice near her home in Luton, Bedfordshire, southern England, family members announced on Sunday.

Her husband Brian, who had been at Pretty's side throughout her legal battles in the UK and the European court, was at her bedside when she died on Saturday.

He said: "Diane had to go through the one thing she had foreseen and was afraid of -- and there was nothing I could do to help."

Mrs Pretty, 43, who had been suffering from motor neurone disease, had begun experiencing breathing difficulties 10 days ago, just three days after she lost her right-to-die court challenge. (Full story)

The mother-of-two had always said she wanted her husband to help her commit suicide because she feared the choking and asphyxia often caused by her disease.

Mr Pretty added in a statement issued by the Voluntary Euthanasia Society (VES): "I was with Diane most of the day and was about to come home when I was stopped and told it was time.

"And then for Diane it was over, free at last."

VES director Deborah Annetts was quoted by the UK news agency, the Press Association, as saying: "Diane was an extraordinary woman.

"Everyone who had the privilege of meeting her was struck by her humanity and bravery in the face of unbearable suffering."