Quadriplegic man wins legal right to to starve himself to death while watching TV

A man who became a quadriplegic after a road accident has been given the legal right to starve to death while watching TV.

A court in Perth, Western Australia, granted the suicidal wish of 49- year-old Mr Christian Rossiter, who said he wanted to die by not eating or drinking.



Once an active sportsman who enjoyed rock climbing, former stockbroker Mr Rossiter told the Supreme Court of West Australia that his condition meant he could not even blow his nose or 'wipe the tears from my eyes.'

Suicide mission: Christian Rossiter, pictured outside the Supreme Court of West Australia in Perth, has been awarded the right to starve to death

Asking the court to be given permission to have all nutrition stopped at the nursing home where he is being cared for, he said his last wish would be for painkillers to make him drowsy and to be watching TV 'to make the time pass' before he died.



'I want to say that the painkillers make me drowsy and I would like to be made drowsy in my final moments so the time would pass more quickly,' he told the court, speaking through a tracheotomy tube.



'And I would like to watch Foxtel on the television to pass the time.'



Chief Justice Wayne Martin said the Brightwater Care nursing home should follow the wishes of Mr Rossiter, adding that anyone who stopped giving him nutrition and hydration through a tube to his stomach would not be criminally responsible.

The ruling sets a legal precedent in Australia, where assisting someone to take their own life is a crime punishable by life in prison in some States.



The judge added that any person providing palliative care, making his last days easier, would also not be criminally responsible.



Justice Martin said it was clear Mr Rossiter had the right to direct his treatment and nutrition and hydration 'should not be administered against his wishes.'



Mr Rossiter, who sustained his severe injuries when he was hit by a car, told the court he was of sound mind and that he wanted to die in Western Australia.



He said he had been prepared to go to Switzerland to die at the Dignitas clinic where several Britons have taken their own lives, but he understood the Swiss government could slow down his quest with lengthy procedures.

At an earlier hearing, when he pleaded to be allowed to end his suffering, he described his life as a 'living hell'.



'I'm Christian Rossiter and I'd like to die,' he told reporters later. 'I am a prisoner in my own body. I can't move.



'I have no fear of death, just pain.. I only fear pain.' He explained that he developed spastic quadriplegia as a result of two separate accidents when he fell 100ft from a building and was then hit by a car whilst riding his bicycle. He did not say whether the accidents were on the same day.



'I believe quadriplegics should be allowed to exercise their freedom of choice but my choice is to die,' he said.

