British Assisted Suicide Case Wins Expedited Hearing

By Dave Andrusko

The European Court of Human Rights has agreed to expedite its review of the case of Diane Pretty, a British woman whose request to give her husband legal immunity so he can assist her to die was turned down by the House of Lords in November. The House of Lords serves as Britain's highest court.

Mrs. Pretty suffers from a motor neuron disease. She is paralyzed from the neck down and receives her nourishment through a tube.

The five Law Lords unanimously rejected Pretty's appeal, saying that human rights legislation is in place to protect life rather than take it. According to BBC News, "Lord Bingham of Cornhill said assisted suicide was against the law and no one had the power to suspend or abandon laws without parliamentary consent."

Lord Bingham told The Guardian that the European Human Rights Convention contains no guarantee for assisted suicide and pointed out that the Netherlands alone permits it in Europe. Regardless of the benefits that some people claim from the practice of euthanasia, they do not stem from or deserve protection under the European Convention right guarding the sanctity of human life, he said.

"No one of ordinary sensitivity would be unmoved by the frightening ordeal which faces Ms. Pretty," Lord Bingham told BBC News, but "mercy killing is in law killing." He expressed concern that lifting the ban on euthanasia might convince some of Britain's elderly, who otherwise would have no desire to die, to end their lives thinking they are a "burden" to others.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has already said he is not in favor of changing the law to allow assisted suicide.

When the Law Lords rendered their decision, a spokesman for the British Medical Association (BMA) said, "The BMA believes the House of Lords has made the right decision."

When the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights agreed to treat Pretty's appeal as a matter of urgency, Roderick Liddell, a spokesman for the court, told Reuters that her appeal would go "right to the top of the pile."

The court has about 20,000 applications for hearings already pending. Ordinarily, the court takes about six months to consider whether a case is admissible. Sometimes a final ruling can take up to four years.

Pretty's lawyer, Shami Chakrabarti, said he will ask the court to consider her case under five articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, including the right to respect for private and family life, Reuters reported.