In a landmark ruling, a British court ruled a woman can legally shut off the life support system that keeps her alive. The judge's verdict was relayed by video to the patient, who was in another city. Britain's top family court judge, Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, ruled the hospital's decision not to turn off the ventilator is unlawful. Earlier this month, Butler-Sloss visited the woman's bedside. "I want to be able to die," B told the judge. The 43-year-old social worker, who was not named for legal reasons, was given the court decision by video link to her hospital bed. She can now effectively sign her own death sentence.

A ruptured blood vessel in her neck a year ago left the woman paralyzed and unable to breathe unaided. Doctors at the hospital treating her had said it was against their ethics to switch off the machine needed to keep her alive. The ruling follows a growing clamor by patients to put their own rights first -- ahead of doctors and the law -- and to decide for themselves when it is time to die.

It is the first time in Britain that someone considered to be in control of their full mental faculties has asked doctors to switch off life support in this way. In other cases, doctors have asked courts to sanction the switch-off for people in a permanent vegetative state. High Court Judge Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss ruled that the woman had the necessary mental capacity to ask for the equipment to be switched off. "Administration of ventilation by artificial means against the claimant's wishes since August 8, 2001, has been an unlawful trespass," the judge said in her historic ruling.

Frances Swaine, the patient's lawyer, read a statement on her behalf: "I'm very pleased with the outcome of the case. The law on consent for treatment is very clear, and this has been a long, unnecessary and personally painful process."

This case differs from assisted suicide because B has not asked anyone to help her to die. She wants to stop the medical treatment that keeps her alive. B will be moved to another hospital where doctors are ready to follow her wishes. She will decide when she wants the ventilator turned off. The ruling mirrors one delivered in Canada's Nancy B case in 1992. Her case was also considered a refusal of treatment, rather than an assisted suicide.

Another paralyzed woman, Diane Pretty, earlier took her demand to die to the European Court of Human Rights. Pretty is terminally ill with motor neurone disease. She wants to end her life with her husband's help, but British courts have refused to grant him immunity from prosecution if he assists her suicide. Under present law, he could face up to 14 years in jail. The Prettys made the 12-hour trip to Strasbourg in an ambulance. The court will deliver its verdict in April 2002

The winner of Friday's landmark case was given the full backing of Heather Pratten, who helped her son Nigel to die in 2000. "She is entitled to refuse treatment and I have every sympathy with her and understand how she feels," Pratten told BBC radio. She was convicted of helping her son to die but given a conditional discharge on humanitarian grounds.

Nigel Pratten, who was suffering from the degenerative brain condition Huntington's Disease, took a dose of heroin on his 42nd birthday in October 2000 and then sank into a coma. Heather Pratten, her voice breaking with emotion, said: "After about five hours I saw that he was nearly dead."

"I had promised that he would not leave that room alive. So I picked up a pillow and put it over his face which was very, very difficult." She had no regrets: "It was the best thing I could do for him. It was his choice and I think it was his right to choose."

Source CBC News & Paul Majendie at Reuters