A terminally-ill woman who wants her husband to be allowed to help her commit suicide has cleared the way for an historic legal battle with wide implications for severly disabled people.
In the first ever challenge to Britain's law on assisted suicide, the High Court in London sanctioned a judicial review into the case of Diane Pretty, 42, who suffers from the incurable degenerative disorder motor neurone disease (MND).
Judge Mr Justice Silber granted her permission to challenge a refusal by the director of public prosecutions, David Calvert-Smith, to rule out taking action against her husband of 25 years, Brian, if he helps her take her own life.
The judge, who described the case as "tragic", said he wanted the full hearing to be held as soon as possible.
"I have had the benefit not only of oral submissions but written submissions," he said.
"Having considered these submissions I come to the conclusion that the claim of this claimant does reach the threshold which would enable permission to be granted."
Mrs Pretty, from Luton, Bedfordshire, was diagnosed with MND in 1999, and is now confined to a wheelchair. Her case is supported by the Voluntary Euthanasia Society and the civil rights group Liberty.
Her counsel Philip Havers QC told the court Mrs Pretty's condition was already at an advanced stage.
She was effectively paralysed in both legs, and she used the little power she had in her arm to communicate by using a machine on her wheelchair which printed out text messages.
It was inevitable that she would eventually die from the disease, usually from respiratory failure brought on by wasting of muscles, he said.
"This is a terrible disease and she has deteriorated rapidly since last year since when she has been confined to a wheelchair," Mr Havers said.
He added that Mrs Pretty did not fall within the category of "vulnerable persons who need to be protected from the unscrupulous".
"On the contrary, if ever there was an individual who can demonstrate a well-settled wish on wholly rational grounds to terminate her life we suggest it is this claimant," he said.
"But, critically, she cannot do so without the assistance of others. It is for that reason and that reason only that she seeks the assistance of her husband and the undertaking from the director."
After the ruling Brian Pretty said his wife was "very pleased" with the outcome.
"What she is fighting for is the right to choose when she wants to die," he said. "We hope things will go well when the full case comes up."
The full hearing, which will almost certainly be held in front of a senior judge because of the ramifications for other seriously disabled people, is expected to come to court at the end of September or early October.
