(Dal Guardian.co.uk)
Right-to-die cases
Tony Bland
During the 1989 Hillsborough disaster Bland, from Keighley, Yorkshire, suffered two punctured lungs, blocking oxygen flow to his brain and was left in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). After campaigns on both sides, the House of Lords ruled in 1993 that withdrawing treatment, as advised by a doctor and approved by Bland's parents, was lawful.
Sue Rodriguez
Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 1991, Rodriguez began a campaign against Canada's law forbidding medically assisted suicides. Her two-year legal battle ended with the Canadian supreme court ruling against her. Rodriguez eventually found a physician willing to assist in her death in 1994.
Terri Schiavo
Respiratory and cardiac arrest in 1990 caused Schiavo massive brain damage leading to PVS. After eight years, her husband Michael Schiavo petitioned the Florida courts to have her life support removed. Terri's family appealed, leading to a seven-year legal battle. Her feeding tube was finally removed in 2005.
Daniel James
The former England youth rugby player, 23, was left paralysed when a scrum collapsed. In need of 24-hour care, he applied to the Dignitas suicide clinic and travelled with his parents to Switzerland last September. James's parents were caught up in a tabloid frenzy on their return.
Craig Ewert
Ewert's assisted death caused headlines when he allowed it to be filmed for a Sky documentary, Right to Die, screened in December 2008. The former university professor, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, was suffering from motor neurone disease and was filmed at Dignitas's clinic kissing his wife goodbye and then drinking a lethal mixture.
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