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American Morning

In Britain, Severely Paralyzed Woman Asking for Right to Die

Aired March 08, 2002 - 07:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: In Britain this morning, a severely paralyzed woman is asking for the right to die, and her plea is now being heard in the British courts.

Richard Quest joins us from London with more on that story, and the weekly look at other stories making news over there.

Good morning, Richard. Happy Friday, and more importantly, happy birthday.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. We'll come to that in a moment. I want to know what -- if you remember what it was like all those years ago when you were 40, Jack. Of course, Franklin Roosevelt was a marvelous president.

Now, let's start if we may, because the week has been one of absolute contrasts in this country. On the one hand, we have the down and right silly, but we also have the terribly tragic. This is the lady known as Ms. B. (ph), who is basically asking the British courts to let her die. After an accident, she has been paralyzed, she's a quadriplegic. And it's a first in U.K. law.

The court hearing had to move from the royal courts to the hospital bed. There were 11 lawyers and the judge all around the hospital bed. And the woman was asked very simply, "What do you want?" And she was told, "I want to be let to die." Finally, the judge said to her, "You can be sure the courts will be conscientious. It is no job of the judge to be involved in emotion." And what's really interesting is that in this day and age this hasn't actually come up before the courts before.

Now, the other big story, just 24 hours old. "Just say no," they've decided to say no, too. The ministers -- the British government ministers have decided to basically now allow -- well, not to actually allow, but to give a nod and a wink to people during ecstasy in clubs. They've given out a new brochure, it's called "Guide to Safe Clubbing." And what it basically says is clubs should have ventilation, they should have things like chill-out rooms.

You know what those are, Jack. Probably at your age, maybe not. They should have things like free water for those who may have taken one too many. And what many people are saying is, this is a dangerous step. It's basically saying yes to ecstasy in British clubs. And I want to quickly point out to you Allen (ph) Baxter -- poor old Allen Baxter. Look, this man was our first slalom medal. We've only ever had one medal, and it was a bronze. And now they're threatening to take it away from him. Why, because crystal methamphentamine was found to be in his blood. He says it was all to do with cough medicine. We'll wait and see, there's an appeal.

Finally, there's hope for us all. How do you fancy a career, Jack, singing? In Britain, the man's name is Will -- William. He is the pop idol that has sold more records than anybody else, a million. And it was all a manufactured story -- a manufactured pop artist. Overall, it's coming to a station near you, because American idol -- your chance, Jack -- your chance to make it big, is coming soon and you'll be able to audition (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

CAFFERTY: I thought I had, Richard, getting to sit here and work with you.

QUEST: No way. Give us a tune and you might just make it really big and sell a million records in a week.

CAFFERTY: I'm too old to sing.

QUEST: Well maybe you're just to bad.

CAFFERTY: Now not to make light -- that too. Not to make light of that poor lady you reported at the beginning of the segment who is requesting the right to die, but it occurs to me, if you were forced to spend seven hours in a room with 11 lawyers, you might make that request whether there was anything wrong with you otherwise or not.

Happy Birthday, Richard. We'll see you next time. Richard Quest.

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