Paralysed Australian wins right to die

A quadriplegic Australian man who cannot “undertake any basic human functions” has the right to stop being fed and die, a judge ruled today.

The case sheds light on a grey area in the country’s law; patients have a lawful right to refuse lifesaving treatment but helping another to commit suicide is a crime punishable by a life sentence.

Chief Justice Wayne Martin told the Western Australia state Supreme Court that the staff and owner of the Perth nursing home caring for 49-year-old Christian Rossiter would not be held criminally liable if any of them withdrew his feeding tube according to his instructions.

Judge Martin said Mr Rossiter, a former stockbroker who broke his spine in 2004 in a road accident and was left a spastic quadriplegic after a fall last year, clearly had a right to direct – and refuse – his treatment.

Food and fluid “should not be administered against his wishes,” but medical staff must fully inform Rossiter of the consequences, the judge said.

Mr Rossiter welcomed the ruling and said he would take further medical advice before refusing food and water.

“I’m happy that I won my right to die,” he said at his nursing home.

“I want to end my life, but after I speak to a medical professional,” he added. “There’s a possibility I could still be dissuaded.”

Mr Rossiter appeared at court for the one-day hearing in a reclining wheelchair and with a tracheotomy tube fitted in his throat to allow him to breathe. He was accompanied by a nurse.

He told the judge he was of sound mind and that he wanted to die.

Lawyer Linda Black also read a statement by him to the court.

“I am unable to undertake any basic human functions,” his statement said. “I am unable to blow my nose. I’m unable to wipe the tears from my eyes.”

Mr Rossiter said he was prepared to travel to Switzerland, where assisted suicide is allowed, but that the Swiss government has been known to hold up cases like his with red tape.

Brightwater Care Group, which owns the nursing home, asked the court to rule on its legal culpability if it agreed to Mr Rossiter’s request.