Woman: Court decisions back right-to-die bid

A Wicklow woman who is seeking the right to end her own life believes former High Court decisions supporting the right to turn off life-support machines and refuse a blood transfusion will bolster her fight for justice.

The woman, who has multiple sclerosis, is taking a case to the High Court seeking her husband’s legal right to help her die.

She wants the 1993 Criminal Law (Suicide) Act declared unconstitutional as she says it discriminates between able-bodied and disabled people.

An able-bodied person can take their own life. However, the woman’s lawyers will argue that a physically disabled person is unable to exert this right as they need help from another.

Under the 1993 Act, anybody who aids or procures the suicide of another is guilty of an offence that can lead to imprisonment for a period of up to 14 years.

The couple, who have long fought for euthanasia in this country, are seeking an anonymity order.

They are arguing that the existing legislation should be updated to include the right to die of somebody who wants to die but is physically incapable of performing the suicide.

The couple want the courts to order the Oireachtas to update the legislation.

Since 2010, it is believed that at least eight Irish people have travelled to Switzerland to die. Assisted suicide is legal there.

Last night an Irish spokesman for Exit International, which advocates for assisted suicide rights, said it “supported the case all the way”.

“Yes, the courts have ruled in several cases that people have rights to turn off life machines, refuse blood transfusions. A person also has the right to die by suicide.

“However, if a person has an illness and wants to die by suicide, that right is removed entirely. We want disabled people to be able to die peacefully and painlessly if they so wish.

“The Canadian courts have already ruled that refusing the disabled person this right is unconstitutional,” he said.

The Irish High Court application is similar to that made by a British man, Tony Nicklinson, who earlier this year sought unsuccessfully for the legal right to end his life with a doctor’s help. A locked-in syndrome sufferer, he has since died.

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland was unable to comment on the case yesterday.