MUM’S SOLACE HELPING My battle for cop hubby’s right to die will lessen pain for other families

THE widow who fought for a road crash cop’s right to die has won a battle to stop other families going through the same agony.

Lindsey Briggs endured 10 months of hell trying to persuade judges to allow severely braindamaged husband Paul’s life support to be withdrawn.

The law then stated only a court could make that decision if the patient was unable to do so – and if there were no record of his or her advance wishes.

Now new guidelines mean more emphasis will be placed on what the family feels their loved one would have wanted if medics also agree treatment should stop.

Speaking after her first Christmas without 43-year-old Paul, Lindsey, 41 – who now helps other young widows, said: “Nobody wants their loved one to die but this will make things easier for others.

“Not having Paul here is horrible. But thankfully, cases like ours have changed things. There is more emphasis now on what that person would want.”

Traffic cop Paul was left in a vegetative state after novice driver Chelsea Rowe crashed into him while he was on duty in July 2015.

Heartbroken Lindsey argued his clinically assisted nutrition and hydration while in a coma should be withdrawn, insisting her husband of 16 years would never have wanted to be kept alive in such a state. But Paul had never recorded his wishes – and doctors argued treatment should continue.

At the time, the 2005 Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice ruled only the Court of Protection could decide on withdrawing treatment if the patient was in a permanently vegetative state or if there were doubts over further treatment being in the patient’s interest.

Limbo

Lindsey had to take her lengthy battle to the Supreme Court of Justice before judges ruled in her favour, and allowed Paul to die. Now the sole parent to their six-year-old daughter Ella, she said: “We were in limbo this time last year. There is comfort now in knowing we did need to go down the legal route – not just for Paul, but for other people.” Speaking at her home in