Diane Pretty is a United Kingdom national, born in 1958 and living in Luton. She is dying of motor neurone disease, a degenerative disease affecting the muscles, for which there is no cure. The disease is now at an advanced stage; the applicant is paralysed from the neck downwards and her life expectancy is very poor. However, her intellect and capacity to make decisions are unimpaired. Given that the final stages of the disease are distressing and undignified, she wishes to be able to control how and when she dies and be spared that suffering and indignity.
Although it is not a crime to commit suicide in English law, the applicant is prevented by her disease from taking such a step without assistance. It is however a crime to assist another to commit suicide under section 2 § 1 of the Suicide Act 1961. Ms Pretty wishes to be assisted by her husband in committing suicide, but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has refused her request to guarantee her husband freedom from prosecution if he does so. Her appeals against that decision have been unsuccessful.
Citation: Pretty v the United Kingdom (App no 2346/02) ECHR 29 April 2002
(from the official press-release prepared by the Registry Office of the European Court of Human Rights)