Woman loses assisted suicide case 
 
 MARY CAROLAN 
 
 A severely disabled woman in the final stages of multiple sclerosis has lost her landmark High Court challenge to the absolute ban on assisted suicide. 
 
 The three-judge High Court ruled today the absolute ban is justified to protect vulnerable others from involuntary death and does not breach Marie Fleming's personal autonomy and equality rights under the Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights. 
 
 A "real risk" of removing the ban was that, even with rigorous safeguards, it "would be impossible to ensure that the aged, the disabled, the poor, the unwanted, the rejected, the lonely, the impulsive, the financially compromised and emotionally vulnerable would not avail of option in order to avoid a sense of being a burden on their family and society", it said. 
 
 The court also found the Director of Public Prosecutions could not issue guidelines setting out what facts she would consider in deciding whether to prosecute cases of assisted suicide. 
 
 Only the Oireachtas can change the law and it would be unconstitutional for the DPP to effect a change in the law by issuing guidelines which would have the effect of the law not being enforced, it said. 
 
 However, it added, if there was "reliable" evidence after an assisted suicide of compliance with guidelines such as those set out by the UK DPP in relation to assisted suicide prosecutions, the court said it believed the DPP here would excerise her discretion "in this of all cases" in a "a humane and sensitive fashion". 
 
 Giving the court's judgment, the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, said the court regarded Ms Fleming as "in many ways the most remarkable witness" all three judges had ever been privileged to encounter. 
 
 "Her courage in adversity is both humbling and inspiring" he said. 
 
 If the court could tailor-make a solution which would suit the needs of Ms Fleming alone without any possible implications for third parties or society at large, there might be a good deal to be said for her Artice 40.3.2 case [relating to personal autonomy]," he said. "But this court cannot be so satisfied." 
 
 Given the public importance of the issues raised in the case, the court said it would award costs to Ms Fleming against the State and DPP. 
 
 Outside court, Ms Fleming, in a statement read on her behalf by her solicitor, said she was "very disappointed and saddened" at the outcome. 
 
 Ms Fleming’s solicitor Bernadette Peart thanked the court and other legal teams involved for giving the case a full and speedy hearing, given her client’s circumstances. 
 
 She said: "Obviously Marie is very disappointed and saddened at today’s outcome and feels it would be inappropriate at the present time to discuss any specific legal or factual aspects of the case having regard to the likelihood of an appeal." 
 
 Ms Fleming, a 59-year-old former lecturer living in Co Wicklow, had asked the court for orders allowing her be lawfully helped take her own life at a time of her choosing so as to avoid what she fears will be a distressing and undignified death. 
 
 She argued, in her very particular circumstances, the blanket ban on assisted suicide in Section 2.2 of the Criminal Law Suicide Act 1993 breached her personal rights under the Constitution and ECHR. 
 
 The State contended, while the ban may be unfair to Ms Fleming, it was a justified and proportionate measure necessary to protect vulnerable people from involuntary death. 
 
 Ms Fleming, who is confined to a wheelchair, was in court today with her partner Tom Curran and other members of her family to hear the decision. It is expected she will appeal the 120-page judgment of the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Paul Carney and Mr Justice Gerard Hogan to the Supreme Court. 
 
 Among the issues raised in the case was whether the rights to bodily autonomy, self-determination require provision for assisted suicide in circumstances such as those of Ms Fleming despite the public policy of preserving the right to life. 
 
 Another central issue was of equality before the law. Ms Fleming argued the blanket ban was discriminatory as it meant she, as a disabled person, could not be lawfully assisted take her own life when an able-bodied person could lawfully take their own life. 
 
 She had told the court Mr Curran is willing to help her end her life but she did not want him to be at risk of prosecution. 
 
 The court was told doctors believe Ms Fleming may die within months and is unlikely to live beyond two years. 
 
 Diagnosed with MS in 1986, her condition has deteriorated to a point where she is confined to a wheelchair with limbs paralysed, suffers acute pain and has difficulty swallowing. She fears she will ultimately be unable to communicate and will die a “horrible” death. ||||| * Court says impossible to tailor law on individual basis 
 
 * Judge calls woman "most remarkable witness" court had seen 
 
 * Follows high profile right-to-die cases in Britain 
 
 By Sarah O'Connor 
 
 DUBLIN, Jan 10 (Reuters) - An Irish woman terminally ill with multiple sclerosis lost her battle for the lawful right to die in the first case of its kind to be brought in Ireland, Dublin's High Court said on Thursday. 
 
 Marie Fleming, a 59-year-old former university lecturer who is completely paralysed, made an impassioned plea last month to establish the right of her partner of 18 years to help her die, an act that could currently see him jailed in mainly Roman Catholic Ireland. 
 
 A 'right to die' debate has played out through recent high-profile court cases in neighbouring Britain, where three people all failed in bids to win legal assistance to die. Assisted suicide is only permitted in four European countries: Belgium; Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. 
 
 Judge Nicholas Kearns said Fleming was the most remarkable witness any member of the court had encountered and acknowledged that her life has been "rendered miserable" after being "ravaged by an insidious disease". 
 
 However he said it would be impossible to tailor legislation governing assisted suicide on an individual basis and doing so would be harmful to the public interest in protecting the most vulnerable members of society. 
 
 "There are no words to express the difficulty we had in arriving at this decision," Kearns said, reading a summary of the 121-page judgement. 
 
 "Yet the fact remains that if this court were to unravel a thread of this law by even the most limited constitutional adjudication in her favour, it would - or at least might - open a Pandora's box which would be impossible to close." 
 
 "VERY SADDENED" 
 
 Suicide was decriminalised in Ireland in 1993, but the ban on helping someone to commit suicide remains, with a jail sentence of up to 14 years. 
 
 Kearns said he felt sure the state, which agreed to pay all legal costs, would exercise its discretion in a humane and sensitive fashion in deciding whether to prosecute if Fleming were to be assisted in taking her own life. 
 
 The mother of two adult children had told the court in a composed manner last month how her life had become totally undignified and too painful to bear, and said she had planned every detail, including funeral arrangements. 
 
 Her partner hugged and kissed her after the judgement was handed out and, reading a statement on her behalf outside the court, her solicitor said Fleming greatly appreciated the enormous support she had received from members of the public. 
 
 "Obviously Marie is very disappointed and saddened at today's outcome, and feels it would be inappropriate at the present time to discuss any specific legal aspects of the case having regard to the likelihood of an appeal," solicitor Bernadette Parte said. 
 
 A recent poll found that large majorities of west Europeans favour the legalisation of assisted suicide. 
 
 As well as in the four European countries, assisted suicide is also legal in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. 
 
 The issue of amending the Irish constitution has also been highlighted recently following the death of a woman who was refused an abortion of her dying foetus, re-igniting a debate that has divided the country for decades.
– A 59-year-old woman in Ireland paralyzed with severe multiple sclerosis has lost her court fight against the nation's ban on assisted suicide, reports the Irish Times. Marie Fleming sought permission to end her life with the help of her partner of 18 years, but Dublin's High Court rejected the request, reports Reuters: "There are no words to express the difficulty we had in arriving at this decision," wrote one judge. "Yet the fact remains that if this court were to unravel a thread of this law by even the most limited constitutional adjudication in her favour, it would—or at least might—open a Pandora's box which would be impossible to close." The judge called Fleming "in many ways the most remarkable witness" he and his fellow judges had ever encountered, and the court ordered the state to pay her legal costs. Fleming's lawyer read a statement on her behalf, saying she was "very disappointed and saddened" at the ruling. She can still appeal.