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Pro-Life groups to fight assisted suicide case
By Lorraine Fraser, Medical Correspondent (Filed: 02/09/2001) ORGANISATIONS opposed to euthanasia are to take legal
action to stop a husband being given the right to kill his terminally ill wife. Alert, the anti-euthanasia group, the Medical Ethics Alliance
and the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children are to apply to the High Court for the right to
oppose the application of Diane Pretty, who has motor neurone disease and is
fighting for a guarantee that her husband will not be prosecuted if he helps
her to die. Mrs Pretty, 42, a mother of two from Luton, wants to choose
when to end her life, but is so disabled that she cannot kill herself. On
Friday, a judge granted her permission to challenge the Director of Public Prosecutions,
who refuses to rule out prosecuting her husband, Brian, if he assists her in
suicide. She says that the Government is subjecting her to inhuman
and degrading treatment, in breach of the Human Rights Act, because she fears
a lingering death from suffocation or choking. However, Pro-Life campaigners fear that her case could, if
successful, change the law so fundamentally that euthanasia would become
legal overnight. At present, aiding and abetting a suicide is illegal and
punishable by up to 14 years in jail, although, under the Suicide Act, the
DPP has discretion over whether to prosecute. Michael Howitt Wilson, a doctor and the chairman of Alert,
said: "It is essential that we stop this. It would be a precedent not
only for people with motor neurone disease to have their lives ended but also
the fact that a husband could kill his wife." Dr Anthony Cole, the chairman of the Medical Ethics Alliance,
said: "This is a case with far-reaching implications. It is important that the court hears from representatives
of the medical profession and is made aware of the decisions that have been
made by the royal colleges and professional bodies, which are opposed to
changing the law on suicide or legalising euthanasia." Bruno Quintavalle, of the ProLife Alliance, said: "It seems clear that this isn't about suicide - this is about murder. If someone cannot kill themselves, there is no question of helping them to kill themselves. It is you killing them. The case is so evidently misconceived that it should have been thrown out." |