Man Loses Court Case To End His Life

A man paralysed from the neck down has lost his High Court case to allow doctors to end his life without fear of prosecution. Tony Nicklinson, 58, from Melksham, Wiltshire, communicates by blinking and has described his life as a "living nightmare" since a stroke in 2005. Mr Nicklinson said he would appeal against the decision. The case went further than previous challenges to the law in England and Wales on assisted suicide and murder. Another man, known only as Martin, who is 47, also lost his case to end his life with medical help. Father-of-two Mr Nicklinson was left paralysed with locked-in syndrome after a catastrophic stroke while on a business trip to Athens. He said he was "devastated" by the court's decision. "Although I didn't want to raise my hopes, it happened anyway because a fantastic amount of work went into my case and I thought that if the court saw me as I am, utterly miserable with my life, powerless to do anything about it because of my disability then the judges would accept my reasoning that I do not want to carry on and should be able to have a dignified death. "I am saddened that the law wants to condemn me to a life of increasing indignity and misery." Explaining the decision, Lord Justice Toulson, said both cases were "deeply moving". However he added: "A decision to allow their claims would have consequences far beyond the present cases. To do as Tony wants, the court would be makinga major change in the law.