The State and the individual's right to die...

A French woman with a severely disfiguring and incurable facial tumour has been refused the right to die.

Chantal Sebire, a 52-year-old former schoolteacher and mother of three, had asked a court in Dijon, eastern France, to allow doctors to help her die.

But while the French have liberalised legislation governing euthanasia, the court ruled the law still did not allow doctors to actively end a life. More...