FOX Health

English Woman Challenges Right-to-Die Laws

A woman with multiple sclerosis is challenging English law to ensure her husband will not be prosecuted if she chooses to end her suffering.

Debbie Purdy, 45, went to court to learn whether her husband would be prosecuted if he helps her travel to a clinic in Belgium or Zurich, Switzerland, to commit suicide, if her condition becomes unbearably painful. Two of the country’s judges say Purdy has the right to argue her case before the country’s High Court.

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6 Responses to “English Woman Challenges Right-to-Die Laws”

Comment by joseph milot

the right to chose when you will die is left up to fate or an individule’s hand its a sad state of affairs when other pepoles morality is even considered its your life not anyone elses .
the fact that suicides is againts the law is laughable . of course if all the terminly ill were to kill them selfs the hospitals would go broke wouldnt they .
i watched my dad die over a 9 day period from a series of strokes yet the doctors constantly pressured my mother to allow a feed tube to be inserted into his stomach ( he will get better he could go home soon they told her)
thank god she held her ground doctors and lawers are not to be trusted

 
Comment by Stephanie

I have MS. I think that we are all handed trials that make life difficult. You don’t know true happiness unless you’ve experienced true pain. I understand her pain to a certain degree, but don’t think anybody should take the “easy” route by participating in assisted suicide. Obviously, she sounds depressed. Her husband should be helping her to get the proper medical/psychological care she needs. Assisted suicide is the wrong way to go.

 
Comment by David Monk

Come to America, try TYSABRI.

This medicine developed by an American drug company. England has socialized medicine and produces almost no new treatments and does not have enough money to treat their citizens well. A little known secret is that the American drug companies will give medicine free to people in need. Please give it a try. Also, there are numerous clinical trials for people in desperate need. Investigate, your life is worth the best that a capitalistic system can supply. Come on over across the ocean and you will be helped. Just do not take no for an answer, we have not yet destroyed our capitalistic medical system.

 
Comment by Alyson

I agree with Stephanie on this.
I also have ms,but the only way to understand something like this horrible disease is to it for yourself.
But however,suicide,isnt the way out..she most deff needs some help…..

 
Comment by Karen

Over 30 years ago, my sister died with ALS. Autopsy showed presence of MS as well. Over 11 months of hospitalization, she went blind, lost all body control, totally bedridden, and in intractible pain. Only communication was when she could move one finger to trace letters into the palm of my hand. Sometimes I could lip-read her. She begged repeatedly to help her die. Had I not been pregnant with my first child, I would have done it for her. I feared being charged with murder and unable to raise my child. I’ve spent all these years thinking of the horrors I could have kept her from experiencing had there been a legal way to help her end her life.

 
Comment by Dianne

I am an American(with MS), and I sure don’t know what David Monk is talking about “drug companies will give medicine to people in need.” That’s not a little known secret, it’s a huge lie. I have MS, and fortunately my health insurance covers most of the cost of my Copaxone, But, in regards to assisted suicide, that is such a sad topic. I know how devastating this disease can be if it progresses, but I would hope that one could seek support from loved ones, find inner peace, and certainly the proper medical and psychological care.

 

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