UK court rules against euthanasia but says more clarity needed on prosecuting assisted suicide

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Paralysed road accident victim Paul Lamb, lies in a bed at his home in Leeds, northern England Wednesday July 31, 2013. A British appeals court on Wednesday July 31, 2013 upheld a law against euthanasia in rejecting appeals from two severely disabled men who argued that doctors should be allowed to legally kill them. In a unanimous ruling, the judges said the two men had "permanent and catastrophic physical disabilities" but said the issue of euthanasia "raises profoundly sensitive questions about the nature of our society." The judges wrote that "Parliament represents the conscience of the nation" and said the court had no jurisdiction to challenge the legal ban on euthanasia. "I am absolutely gutted," said Paul Lamb, one of the men involved, who was severely paralyzed after a car accident. (AP Photo/Anna Gowthorpe/PA) UNITED KINGDOM OUT NO SALES NO ARCHIVE

LONDON – A British appeals court upheld a law against euthanasia in rejecting appeals from two severely disabled men who argued that doctors should be allowed to legally kill them.

The two men — one of whom died of pneumonia last year — claimed their right to “private and family life” as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights was being violated since they were not allowed to choose how they wanted to die.

In a judgment issued on Wednesday, the Court of Appeal said the current law interferes with that right but ruled the ban on euthanasia is justified.

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