Tony Nicklinson has died just six days after a British court denied him the right to die with assistance. Nicklinson died in his home in Melksham, west of London, on August 22, 2012. Nicklinson died from refusal of food and fluid, which he stopped accepting after the court ruling on August 16th.
Mr. Nicklinson suffered a stroke in 2005 and developed locked-in syndrome. This is an incurable condition that left him with paralyzed with no motor functions but he was aware and cognitive. For seven years he was unable to speak, or care for himself. He communicated through a special computer system by blinking his eyes.
The court ruling against Nicklinson can be read at the Farewell Foundation’s blogpost for August 16th, here: http://farewellfoundation.ca/wordpress/?p=441
Prior to going to court, Nicklinson wrote, “It cannot be acceptable in 21st-century Britain that I am denied the right to take my own life just because I am physically handicapped.” He added, “It is astonishing that in 1969 we could put a man on the moon, yet in 2012 we still cannot devise adequate rules for government-assisted dying.”