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Dying woman wins euthanasia review

Ian Burrell,Home Affairs Correspondent
Saturday 01 September 2001 00:00 BST

A woman who is terminally ill with motor neurone disease won the right to a historic High Court hearing on Friday which will determine whether her husband can lawfully help her to die.

Diane Pretty, 42, burst into tears as the judge, Mr Justice Silber, gave her permission for a full judicial review of her case "as soon as possible". She will now try to overturn a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions, David Calvert-Smith, that her husband Brian would be liable to criminal charges if he assisted in her death. The case, which is being brought under the Human Rights Act, will be the first legal challenge to the law on assisted suicides. Mrs Pretty, a former cook, attended on Friday's hearing in a wheelchair after being taken to the High Court in London by her husband from their home in Luton.

Standing beside his wife outside the court, Brian Pretty said: "Diane is very pleased with the outcome today. What she is fighting for is the right to choose when she wants to die. This is all her decision. I have no say in the matter at all."

Mrs Pretty claims that her human rights are breached by the Suicide Act 1961, which makes it an offence to aid and abet a death. She says this contravenes Article 3 of the Human Rights Act, which guarantees protection against inhumane treatment, and Article 8, which upholds a person's autonomy. Mrs Pretty is supported by the Voluntary Euthanasia Society.

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