Irish court: No 'right to die' for paralyzed woman
Source: Associated Press
Irish court: No 'right to die' for paralyzed woman
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press | April 29, 2013 | Updated: April 29, 2013 2:20pm
DUBLIN (AP) A paralyzed Irish woman who wants to die cannot legally commit suicide with her partner's help, Ireland's Supreme Court ruled Monday in a case that moved some in the courtroom to tears.
The seven-judge court said nothing in the country's Catholic-influenced 1937 constitution could authorize the deliberate taking of a life on humanitarian grounds. It said lawmakers could pass such a law to permit 59-year-old Marie Fleming to die at a time of her choosing, but no such statute existed yet.
Fleming, a former University College Dublin lecturer who is unable to move from the neck down because of advanced multiple sclerosis, testified that her life had been reduced to irreversible agony and that she feared choking to death because she couldn't swallow.
Her lawyers argued that suicide was not a crime in Ireland, therefore a disabled person unable to end his or her own life should receive that help to be equal under the law. They also contended that Fleming's right to personal autonomy under the European Convention on Human Rights was being violated.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Irish-court-No-right-to-die-for-paralyzed-woman-4471962.php
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)or is that No Death for You panel?
Funny how they want to preach, how WE want to exit this world.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)terminally sick to end their lives with dignity.
Warpy
(110,900 posts)that he left within her reach. I didn't know about it until after she had died and I found the bottle of pills. I did know that she stopped begging me for help. I had told my dad what the lethal dose was and that's exactly how many pills there were.
She never used them. Knowing they were there gave her a great deal of peace of mind. When I found them, I just thanked my dad for doing that for her.
Every terminally ill person should have this comfort, that there's an out in case it all gets too hard.
The Irish court is wrong in this case. The patient has said it's gotten too hard. Now she'll have to wait until a bed sore gets infected or she gets a drug resistant pneumonia. It has to be pure hell to live with only that to look forward to.
Judi Lynn
(160,211 posts)Clearly your mother was important in that decision. Not so many people would be able to think it through that well, with that much concern for the other.
Thank you for thinking of sharing this.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)I think it should be legal all over.
rug
(82,333 posts)Cruzan v. Missouri http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/88-1503.ZS.html.
Although under very limited circustances, a state may allow it. Washington v. Glucksberg http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/96-110.ZS.html
Therefore, whenever someone dies in the U.S. for lack of health care, it's simply a privilege.
mettamega
(81 posts)and yet - under these circumstances I would have to side with the woman - blessings on all involved
Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)Everyone should have this RIGHT! We should have control of our own bodies.
Isn't the right to take one's own life legal in Oregon?
anAustralianobserver
(633 posts)I wonder if US polls are similar.
area51
(11,868 posts)... but apparently there is a right to kill.