Ailing Woman Is Denied the Right to Die

A terminally ill British woman lost a landmark court battle to “die with dignity.” She said she would appeal the ruling.

Diane Pretty, 42, who is paralyzed from the neck down by a motor neuron disease, had wanted her husband to be immune from prosecution if he helped her commit suicide.

In a test case that underscores Britain’s long-standing legal block on euthanasia, three High Court judges dismissed Pretty’s case and denied her permission to appeal the ruling except to the House of Lords.

The judges acknowledged that Pretty’s condition will worsen and that death was not far off but said the mother of two’s human right was “to live with dignity, not die with dignity.”