Court hears of 'right to die' mother's plight

A top barrister today told a British High Court judge of the plight of a mother-of-two suffering from a "terrible" wasting disease who wants her husband to help her commit suicide.

Diane Pretty, 42, is challenging a refusal by the Director of Public Prosecutions, David Calvert-Smith, to rule out taking action against her husband of 25 years, Brian, if he helps her take her own life.

Mrs Pretty, from Luton, Bedfordshire, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease - which is untreatable - in 1999, and is now confined to a wheelchair.

She sat at the front of the courtroom in her wheelchair next to her husband, and listened as her counsel, Philip Havers QC, opened her case before Mr Justice Silber.

Mr Havers said Mrs Pretty’s condition was already at an advanced stage.

She was effectively paralysed in both legs, and she used the little power she had in her arm to communicate by using a machine on her wheelchair which printed out text messages.

It was inevitable that she would eventually die from the disease, usually from respiratory failure brought on by wasting of muscles, he said.

"This is a terrible disease and she has deteriorated rapidly since last year when she has been confined to a wheelchair," Mr Havers said.