Paralysed builder ‘in constant pain’ loses right-to-die challenge

CAMPAIGNERS HAVE spoken of their disappointment and called for a change in the law after a paralysed former builder from Yorkshire lost a High Court bid to challenge legislation on assisted dying.

Paul Lamb, who previously lost a right-to-die case in the Supreme Court in 2014, asked the court to consider allowing a fresh challenge to go ahead.

The 63-year-old from Leeds argued the current law, which bans assisted suicide under threat of up to 14 years’ imprisonment, is discriminatory and breaches his human rights. His lawyers told the court that, while an able-bodied person can end their life if they wish, those with severe disabilities cannot.

Ruling in London yesterday, two leading judges said his case was “unarguable” and should not proceed to a full hearing.

Lord Justice Dingemans and Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing said a number of previous cases on the “immensely sensitive” issue had concluded assisted dying was a matter for Parliament and not the courts.

The judges said the rulings in cases including those of Diane Pretty, Tony Nicklinson and Noel Conway all found that the interference with their human rights was “justified”. Mrs Justice Laing said allowing exemptions to the law on assisted dying would remove protection of very vulnerable people, some of whom would not wish to take their own lives but may be subjected to pressure to do so.

Robert Ince, a spokesman for the campaign group My Death, My Decision, said: “We are extremely disappointed the courts have once again failed to support the human rights of Paul and give hope to many like him who suffer intolerably.

“New evidence from progressive countries including Canada has demonstrated that a transparent and robust set of safeguards is the best way to protect everyone and that compassion need not come at the expense of protecting others.”

He added: “Nearly 90 per cent of the public now believe adults facing incurable suffering deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and compassion – but this cannot happen until the law changes.”

Mr Lamb, who needs roundthe-clock care, was severely injured in a car accident in 1990 and has no function below his neck, apart from limited movement in his right arm.

In a statement in May, he said he was living in a “state of constant pain” and that his suffering would “inevitably become too much to bear”.

He added: “When that happens, I want to be able to control and choose the circumstances of my death.”

His barrister, Philip Havers QC, told the court that discrimination to Mr Lamb as a result of the law was “very grave” and not being able to end his life meant he faced “many more years of unbearable suffering”.

Mr Lamb’s case was supported by Humanists UK and he was represented by law firm Leigh Day.

He previously brought cases at the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights alongside Jane Nicklinson, the widow of Tony Nicklinson, who took up her husband’s legal fight after he died.

Mr Nicklinson, from Melksham, Wiltshire, who suffered locked-in syndrome after a catastrophic stroke while on a business trip to Athens in 2005, died aged 58, days after his right-todie challenge was rejected by the High Court in 2012.

Mr Lamb did not attend yesterday’s hearing as he was in hospital.

Exemptions to the law would remove protection from the vulnerable. Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing in the High Court yesterday.