‘No Dutch doctor will help Chantal Sébire’

In a controversial court case, a French judge has rejected the request of 52-year-old Chantal Sébire for euthanasia. A tumour has caused Ms Sébire’s face to become disfigured, and her suffering is unbearable.

Ms Sébire is now considering turning for help to doctors outside her native France. But countries such as the Netherlands, where euthanasia is permitted under certain specific conditions, aren’t particularly eager to welcome ‘euthanasia tourists’.

Read the article: Radio Netherlands, 18 March 2008

Update 20 March 2008: Disfigured woman found dead after French court rejects euthanasia

A severely disfigured French woman was found dead at her home Wednesday, a local prosecutor said, only two days after a court rejected her request for the right to die, in a case that has stirred much emotion in France.

Full story: AFP, 20 March 2008