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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1983592.stm
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Rachel Hurst, director of
Disability Awareness in Action
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"It would be a slippery
slope and many people who did not want to die could be affected."
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Ms Hurst said palliative
care was now so sophisticated that it would have helped to ease Mrs Pretty's
suffering considerably.
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Dr Greg Gardner of the
Medical Ethics Alliance, said Mrs Pretty's case had helped to bring the issue
out into the open.
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However, he said the case
had served to emphasise that there was no right to die under law.
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"Once you allow a
little bit of euthanasia, you end up with quite a lot."
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Assisted suicide is legal in
Holland and Belgium, and tolerated in Germany and Switzerland.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1957396.stm
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Richard Green, of the Motor
Neurone Disease Association, said its members were divided over the case.
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He told BBC News:
"There are many in the association who supported her application but
equally there are people in the association who would have been horrified if
there was a change in the law."
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The Medical Ethics Alliance
welcomed the verdict saying a "right-to-die" ruling would have put
many disabled and elderly people at risk.
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Dr Michael Wilks, of the
British Medical Association, said: "The European Court of Human Rights
has made the right decision."
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Bruno Quintavalle of the
anti-euthanasia ProLife Alliance said: "We are thankful but not
surprised by the Strasbourg court's unanimous rejection of her claim to have
a right to die under the European Convention on Human Rights."
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