Terminally ill man to challenge assisted dying rules

A terminally ill man is set to continue his legal fight over his wish for a "peaceful and dignified" death.

Noel Conway, a 68-year-old retired lecturer from Shrewsbury, says he feels"entombed" by his motor neurone disease, which was diagnosed more than three years ago.

When he has less than six months left to live and still has mental capacity tomake the decision, he wants to be able to enlist help from medical professionals to bring about his death.

He previously asked for a declaration that the Suicide Act 1961 is incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which relates to respect for private and family life, and Article 14, which protects from discrimination.

But his case was rejected by High Court judges in October last year.His lawyers will go to the Appeal Court on January 18 to ask for permission to challenge that ruling.

In a statement after the High Court decision, Mr Conway said he was "deeply disappointed" and vowed to fight on.

He said the only option he currently has is to "effectively suffocate" bychoosing to remove his ventilator.

His case was opposed by the Secretary of State for Justice, with Humanists UK, Care Not Killing and Not Dead Yet UK also making submissions.

His legal team said he will not be attending the appeal hearing as he is toounwell.