A PARALYSED former builder and the widow of man who had locked-in syndrome have lost a right-to-die fight in the UK's highest court but said they were hopeful change would come.
Supreme Court justices ruled against Paul Lamb and Jane Nicklinson by a seven-two majority following a hearing in London.
Mr Lamb and Mrs Nicklinson, whose husband Tony died nearly two years ago, wanted the court to rule disabled people should have the right to be helped to die with dignity.
Nine justices had been asked to decide whether a prohibition on assisted suicide - outlined in the 1961 Suicide Act - was compatible with the right to respect for private and family life enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.
Five of the nine justices concluded the court had the "constitutional authority" to declare a general prohibition on assisted suicide was incompatible with the human right to private and family life. Two of those five said they would have made such a declaration.
Mr Lamb, from Bramley, Leeds, and Mrs Nicklinson, both 58, said those conclusions were a "positive" step in the fight for change.
He added: "I know it is going to change."
Mrs Nicklinson - from Melksham, Wiltshire, and whose husband Tony died aged 58 in August 2012 after starting the legal fight - added: "I am disappointed that we lost. But it is a very positive step. Parliament will have to discuss this."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article