Tony Nicklinson statement: ‘I have no privacy or dignity. I am fed up with my life’

Tony Nicklinson’s statement to the High Court describing what happened after his stroke and how he feels about his life now

“IT LEFT me paralysed below the neck and unable to speak. I need help in almost every aspect of my life. I cannot scratch if I itch, I cannot pick my nose if it is blocked and I can only eat if I am fed like a baby – only I won’t grow out of it, unlike the baby.

“I have no privacy or dignity left. I am washed, dressed and put to bed by carers who are, after all, still strangers. You try defecating to order whilst suspended in a sling over a commode and see how you get on. I am fed up with my life and don’t want to spend the next 20 years or so like this …

“By all means protect the vulnerable. By vulnerable, I mean those who cannot make decisions for themselves – just don’t include me. I am not vulnerable.

“I don’t need help or protection from death or those who would help me. If the legal consequences were not so huge, i e life imprisonment, perhaps I could get someone to help me.

“I can’t get help. I am asking for my right to choose when and how to die.”