Britain’s most senior judges will hear a crucial case next week which seeks to weaken the law on euthanasia and assisted suicide in the UK.
The case relates to legal challenges brought by the family of the late Tony Nicklinson and two disabled men, Paul Lamb (58) and a man known only as “Martin” (48).
Joint case
All three cases will be heard jointly by a panel of nine justices sitting in the Supreme Court – the highest court in the land.
Martin, who suffers from locked-in syndrome, wants a change in the way that those who assist in a suicide are prosecuted.
He wants a health professional to assist him in travelling to the Dignitas suicide clinic in Switzerland without facing prosecution. His wife has made clear that she feels morally unable to help him die.
Mr Lamb – who was left seriously disabled by a car accident – is seeking a court order permitting a doctor to take his life without facing murder charges.
Full scale euthanasia
In doing so, he is seeking to legalise full scale euthanasia under human rights law.
This is because in his condition he would be unable to take the final steps to end his life and would need a doctor to kill him.
Mr Lamb has taken up the case of locked-in-syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson who lost his right-to-die bid in the High Court last year.
Mr Nicklinson died shortly after the ruling but his wife pledged to continue her husband’s campaign, joining forces with Mr Lamb in taking the case to the Court of Appeal.
Upheld
Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision in Mr Lamb and Mrs Nicklinson’s joint case.
The case was dismissed unanimously by three Court of Appeal Judges earlier this year. They ruled that it was unlawful for a doctor to end the life of a patient on request, and that it was for Parliament, not the courts, to decide whether the law should be changed.
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