Paralysed man vows to fight to change euthanasia laws in UK

LONDON: Britain’s right-todie laws were condemned as “barbaric and inhumane” by a paralysed campaigner yesterday, after three of the country's most senior judges rejected his appeal to be allowed assistance to end his own life.

Paul Lamb, 57, has spent the past 23 years receiving roundthe-clock care following a car crash which left him with only a tiny degree of movement, in his right arm. He said politicians were too scared to bring the UK into line with other countries where assisted suicide was legal.

The former builder, and the family of locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson, who died last year, said they would now take their campaign to the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.

The lord chief justice, sitting with Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson and Lord Justice Elias, concluded that the laws relating to assisted suicide could only be changed by Parliament. Their decision followed the latest attempt by disability campaigners to give those with catastrophic physical injuries or the terminally ill greater control over their deaths.

However, the judges accepted that a third claimant – a man suffering from lockedin syndrome who can only be identified by the name Martin – should be allowed to take his case to the Supreme Court.

Martin is seeking legal clarification about whether medical staff would be exempt from prosecution if they helped him commit suicide. Lamb and Nicklinson’s widow, Jane, were also granted leave to appeal.

Lamb said: “Politicians are scared to death. It is a case of: ‘We can’t do that – it’s too risky.’ If there was a politician with the guts to take it on it would be all right, but I don’t think they have got it in them.”

The father of two spends many days being dosed with powerful drugs, including morphine, to combat the root pain he suffers as a result of his spinal injuries. He joined the right-to-die battle following the death last year of stroke victim Nicklinson, 58, who contracted pneumonia after refusing food, following an earlier decision by the High Court rejecting his voluntary euthanasia claim.

The court heard that the two men were condemned to “suffer in silence” because they were physically unable to end lives which had become “unbearable”.

Lamb said: “I am doing this for myself as and when I need it. I’m doing it for thousands of others living in what can only be described as a hell.”

Lawyers for Martin said his wife was unwilling to help him take his own life, and he would rely on the assistance of a medical professional or carer to help him do so.

Under guidance laid down by the director of public prosecution, following another case brought by campaigner Debbie Purdy, it is unclear whether the carers might face trial if they helped him travel abroad to a Swiss suicide clinic. The current guidelines indicate that medical professionals are more likely than family members to face prosecution for assisted suicide overseas.

Speaking through a computer, Martin said: “Almost every aspect of my daily life is outside of my control. I want, at least, to be able to control my death, and this judgment goes some way to allow me to do this.”

Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, which helped bring the cases, said 80 percent of the British public backed reform.

“This is the biggest bioethical issue of our time. It already affects so many people, but in the coming years it is going to touch the lives of an ever increasing number,” Copson said.