Update – Marie Fleming loses Supreme Court appeal

Marie Fleming has lost her Supreme Court challenge to the ban on assisted suicide.
The 59 year old – who is terminally ill with multiple sclerosis – was not in court to hear the result of her appeal.
In an unanimous ruling 7 judges of the Supreme Court have found there is no Constitutional right either to commit suicide or to arrange for the termination of one’s life at a time of one’s choosing.
The court has also rejected Marie Fleming’s case that the law banning assisted suicide discriminates against her because her physical disability stops her ending her life – here the court describes the law as ‘objectively neutral’.
However the court says nothibng in this judgment should be taken as necessarily implying that it would not be open to the Oireachtas to legislate to deal with a case such as the 59 year old’s
Marie Fleming was not in court for today’s ruling but her 2 adult children and partner Tom Curran were.
He has indicated they may take the case to Europe.