Life support ruling worries commission

A high court decision to allow a severely
disabled woman to end her life may mean that the struggle of
thousands of disabled people “who lead rich and rewarding lives”
will be ignored, according to the Disability Rights Commission.

The landmark ruling will allow the woman, a
former social worker who is paralysed from the neck down, to
request that her life support machine be turned off.

But Liz Sayce, director of policy and
communications at the DRC, said: “We live in a society that still
pities severely disabled people and views death as their best
option.”

She added that for many disabled people living
in circumstances similar to the woman, known as Miss B, “life is
not a living death – it’s a life worth living”.