A British judge ruled Monday that the case of a severely disabled man who wants to end his intolerable life should be allowed to proceed. Tony Nicklinson,57, from Melksham,Wiltshire,has locked-in syndrome following a stroke in 2005 and is unable to carry out his own suicide,BBC reported. Locked-in syndrome leaves people with paralysed bodies but fully-functioning minds. He communicates largely by blinking. In January,he asked the High Court to declare that any doctor who gives him a lethal injection with his consent wont be charged with murder. The judges ruling now means that Nicklinsons case will go to a full hearing,where medical evidence can be heard. The ministry of justice argued that granting Nicklinsons request would require changing the law on murder and that such changes must be made by Parliament. The government had applied to have the case dismissed. Nicklinsons wife,Jane,said the only way to end her husbands suffering was to kill him. A life like this is unbearable for him, she said. We know there are doctors out there that would do this if it is made legal. Nicklinson argued that British law hindered his right to private and family life, guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights,on the grounds that being able to choose how to die is a matter of personal autonomy. A recent British commission headed by a former justice secretary concluded there was a strong case for allowing assisted suicide under strict criteria. The report did not support euthanasia and recommended assisted suicide be allowed for terminally ill people,which would exclude Nicklinson.
