Right-to-die hearing of man with locked-in syndrome gets go-ahead

A high court judge has ruled that the right-to-die case of a man who can only communicate by blinking and wants his "suffering to end" should be allowed to proceed.

His wife, Jane Nicklinson, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, that death is the only way out for her husband. "We are asking for it to be legal for someone to end his life. The only way to relieve Tony's suffering is to kill him. There's nothing else that can be done for him," said the former nurse.

"He can't do anything. He's completely paralysed and he can't speak. If he has an itch I have to scratch it for him," she said.

"She added that the law had to change to keep up with advancing medical practice. "Twenty years ago Tony would have died. But people are being kept alive with such terrible conditions. Medical practice has become so much better but the law has not progressed with that. He says now if he had known what life would be like for him now, he would have just laid down and died and would not have called for help."

I think this arguments is very valid - new conditions, new deliberation.

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