Kelly Taylor has dropped her High Court case. The 30 year old Bristol woman who suffers from the life limiting conditions Eisenmenger's syndrome (congenital heart disorder)and Klippel-Fiel syndrome (congenital spinal disorder), had begun a court case seeking permission for doctors to sedate her with morphine until unconscious, and then to withdraw food and fluids in line with her 'living will' with the intention that she die. However, she has now withdrawn the case after her request for an adjournment was refused.

Mrs Taylor's doctors had refused her requests, saying that they amount to a request for euthanasia. Furthermore, a BMA statement has said that giving morphine with the deliberate intention of ending someone's life was 'unlawful and unethical'. Her solicitor said, 'We don't consider that we're asking for anything unlawful and the courts we believe will come to that conclusion too. The only way she can be free from pain is if the doses are increased to the level where she loses consciousness'.

The case opened at the High Court in London at the end of March. However, Mrs Taylor asked for the case to be postponed as she wanted time to investigate alternative pain relief options including non-drug treatments such as physiotherapy. But the Court rejected her bid for a delay.

A spokeswoman for Dignity in Dying, who have been promoting Mrs Taylor's case throughout, made the claim that she had '...been forced to withdraw her case by the defendants....'

Peter Saunders, campaign director for Care Not Killing, said: 'We are very pleased to see that Mrs Taylor has withdrawn her case and is now seeking alternative treatment. Whilst the personal circumstances in this case are very distresssing, if the Court had allowed it to proceed, it would have placed many vulnerable patients at risk. Our key priority must be to make the best quality palliative care accessible to all, and the law should not be changed on the basis of hard cases like this. As we have argued throughout, morphine, properly used, relieves pain without causing coma or death'.

Read Care Not Killing's comments on the Kelly Taylor case.