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Emma Hallett/PA Wire
Tony Nicklinson picture with his family earlier this month
Right to die
Locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson dies
Nicklinson had last week lost his legal case at the High Court in the UK to be allowed to end his life.
TONY NICKLINSON, THE British man who suffered from locked-in syndrome and had fought a legal battle to be allowed to end his life, has died at his home.
His family said that he died peacefully of natural causes at around 10 o’clock this morning.
In a statement, the family’s law firm said that he had been refusing food and medical treatment for several days since the ruling by the court last week and had contracted pneumonia over the weekend.
Nicklinson was told last Thursday by a court in London that he could not end his life with the help of a doctor as it would be wrong for the court to depart from British law which says that voluntary euthanasia is a form of murder.
He and his wife Jane had said last week that they had planned to appeal against the decision by the court.
Nicklinson, who was unable to move his body but still retained all his mental faculties, had described his life as “pure torture”. The 58-year-old was left paralysed by a stroke in 2005 and communicated via a computer which he controlled by blinking.
He had gone to court to ask that any doctor who killed him with his consent would not be charged with murder.
His family thanked people for supporting him over the years and asked for privacy.
Previously: British man loses high court battle to end his life >
