"Right to die" campaign rejected in Supreme Court

A man from Leeds has lost his right-to-die fight at the UK's highest court.

Paul Lamb - a former builder, paralysed in a car accident - took his battle to the Supreme Court alongside the window of former locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson.

They wanted the court to rule that disabled people should have the right to be helped to die. Seven out of nine justices ruled against assisted suicide.

A disability charity has warned that a change in the law could put pressure on disabled people to end their lives.

Richard Hawkes from Scope was speaking after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal led by a paralysed former builder from Leeds:

Campaigners say the law which prevents assisted suicide is "out of touch" with 21st century Britain.

Sarah Wooton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, was speaking after the Supreme Court rejected a campaign led by a paralysed former builder from Leeds.

The right to die campaign led by a paralysed former builder from Leeds has been rejected by the Supreme Court.

Paul Lamb brought the case to the court with the widow of a man who had locked in syndrome.

It was defeated by a seven-two majority.

Mr Lamb and Mrs Nicklinson, whose husband Tony died nearly two years ago, had asked the court to rule that disabled people should have the right to be helped to die with dignity.

Their ruling was delivered today after a hearing in December.

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 that the court had the "constitutional authority" to declare that a general prohibition on assisted suicide was incompatible with the human right to private and family life.

And two of those five said they would have made such a declaration.

Four justices said MPs were better placed to make such a compatibility assessment.

A legal battle over the right to die, which has been led in part by a man from Leeds, will be decided today.

Paul Lamb was paralysed after a crash in 1990. He became involved in the fight for assisted suicide last year following the death of campaigner Tony Nicklinson. The judgement has been deliberated for six months.

A severely paralysed man from Leeds has taken his campaign for the right to die to the highest court in the UK.

Paul Lamb's plight is one of three cases the panel of nine judges will consider over the next four days. All three seek to challenge aspects of the law on assisted suicide in England and Wales.

The case of a man from Leeds campaigning for the right to die is being heard by judges in the Supreme Court today.

Paul Lamb's plight is one of three cases the panel of nine judges will consider over the next four days. All three seek to challenge aspects of the law on assisted suicide in England and Wales. Jane Nicklinson Right-to-die campaigner & widow of Tony Nicklinson spoke to Calendar

Tony Nicklinson's widow has admitted continuing to fight for the right to die the in courts has taken a strain, but added there was "no question" she would continue because she felt "that strongly" about it.

Jane Nicklinson and Paul Lamb, who is severely disabled, want the right to die with the help of a doctor and without the fear of prosecution. Their case will be heard at the highest court in the UK later today.

Jane said she was "hopeful" there would be an outcome in her favour and said it was "quite significant" the case was going to be heard by nine judges, opposed to the usual five.

Campaigners say a defeat at the Court of Appeal in July has not put them off taking their fight to the Supreme Court today.

Paul Lamb, from Leeds, is immobile except for limited movement in his right hand and has been in significant pain since his accident in 1990.

Along with another accident victim and the widow of campaigner Tony Nicklinson, he will appear at the court in front of nine judges.

Appeal judges dismissed the Nicklinson and Lamb challenges over the legal ban on voluntary euthanasia.

After the July ruling, Mrs Nicklinson said: "We will carry on with the case for as long as we can so that others who find themselves in a position similar to Tony don't have to suffer as he did. Nobody deserves such cruelty.''

Read: 'Right to die' challenges rejected