Paralyzed Brit Wins Right To Die

A paralyzed woman who wants doctors to remove the ventilator that keeps her alive should be given the right to die, a British court ruled Friday.

The decision was relayed by video link to the hospital bedside of the woman, identified only as B.

Britain's top family court judge, Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, ruled the patient had the necessary mental capacity to give or refuse consent to life-sustaining medical treatment.

She said that for someone as severely disabled as the patient, "life in that condition may be worse than death."

The 43-year-old woman has been paralyzed from the neck down since a blood vessel ruptured in her neck a year ago. She is unable to breathe unaided.

Earlier this month, Butler-Sloss visited the woman's bedside so she could explain why she wished to die. The hearing was broadcast on closed circuit television to the High Court from an unidentified London-area hospital.

When her lawyer, Philip Havers, asked whether she wanted to leave the hospital where she has undergone treatment to go to a place where her ventilator would be removed, she replied "Yes." She said she understood the consequences.

"I want to be able to die," she told the judge.

Her doctors argued that it would be unethical to switch off the ventilator.

The case differs from those of ill people who ask for help committing suicide. This patient wants to stop the medical treatment that keeps her alive, and has not asked anyone to take steps beyond that to kill her.

Butler-Sloss, president of the High Court's family division, said the only decision she had to make was whether the patient had the mental capacity to make a choice that would end her life.

In a statement released by her lawyers after the ruling, the patient said she was "very pleased with the outcome of this case."

"The law on consent to treatment is very clear and this has been a long and unnecessary and personally painful process," she said.

Butler-Sloss — who ordered that neither the woman, her doctors nor the hospital involved be named — said she had been impressed by "the great courage, strength of will and determination" the patient had shown.

"She is clearly a splendid person and it is tragic that someone of her ability has been struck down so cruelly," the judge said.

"I hope she will forgive me for saying ... that if she did reconsider her decision, she would have a lot to offer the community at large."

The hospital said it did not plan to appeal the decision. Its lawyer, Robert Francis, said he regretted the distress, "however unintentionally caused," to the patient.