LONDON — Britain’s High Court has rejected a terminally ill man’s request to die with medical help.
In a ruling Thursday, three judges turned down Noel Conway’s request for assisted suicide. Conway, 67, has motor neuron disease and has been given less than six months to live.
Conway had applied to the court in July, asking for a declaration that Britain’s outlawing of suicide is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
After the ruling, Conway said he was “deeply disappointed” and intended to appeal. He said that since he was now no longer well enough to travel abroad to obtain assisted suicide in Switzerland — the only country in Europe that legally helps foreigners end their lives — his only option now was to die by suffocation, by removing his ventilator himself.
Conway’s bid to die was opposed by the secretary of state for justice and several other groups, who all made submissions to the court. His lawyer argued that Conway was attempting to have the ban on assisted dying lifted only for a very select category of people: adults diagnosed with a fatal illness with less than six months to live.
A challenge by another man over Britain’s ban on assisted dying was rejected in 2014. The Supreme Court said Parliament should debate the issue before any legal decision.