 * 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. 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 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. 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.
– 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.