U.K. man denied euthanasia request dies at home

Tony Nicklinson, a British man with locked-in syndrome that left him unable to speak or move, died Wednesday Aug. 22, 2012 at his home, his lawyers announced.

The week prior, Britain's High Court ruled Nicklinson couldn't end in his life with physician-assisted euthanasia.

The 58-year-old , who had suffered from locked-in syndrome since a 2005 stroke left him unable to speak or move below his neck, had asked the court to overturn the U.K. euthanasia law. The court however ruled that requests to die from Nicklinson, and another man known only as "Martin," was a matter for the country's Parliament to decide.

In this image, Tony Nicklinson's wife Jane wipes away tears as he reacts as a statement is read regarding the High Court's decision n Aug. 16, 2012, in Melksham, England.

Caretakers help Tony Nicklinson at his home as he prepares for a statement to be read regarding the decision made by High Court judges not to allow him to ask a doctor to end his life on Aug. 16, 2012, in Melksham, England.

Nicklinson has previously described his life as "a living nightmare."

Nicklinson died at home "peacefully this morning of natural causes," one of his daughters said on her father's Twitter account Wednesday Aug. 22, 2012.

Caretakers help Tony Nicklinson at his home as he prepares for a statement to be read regarding the decision made by High Court judges not to allow him to ask a doctor to end his life on Aug. 16, 2012, in Melksham, England.

"I am saddened that the law wants to condemn me to a life of increasing indignity and misery," he said following the ruling.

Nicklinson died less than one week after the ruling on Wednesday Aug. 22, 2012.

Tony Nicklinson's wife Jane comforts her husband as he reacts as a statement is read regarding the decision made by High Court judges not to allow him to ask a doctor to end his life on Aug. 16, 2012, in Melksham, England.

Nicklinson said he was "devastated and heartbroken" by the decision and planned to appeal. He died at home of natural causes Wednesday Aug. 22, 2012, his family said.

Tony Nicklinson's wife Jane comforts her husband as he reacts as a statement is read regarding the decision made by High Court judges not to allow him to ask a doctor to end his life on Aug. 16, 2012, in Melksham, England.

Nicklinson died Wednesday Aug. 22, 2012 at home. Police said they would not be investigating his death.

Tony Nicklinson's wife Jane wipes a tear as he reacts as a statement is read regarding the decision made by High Court judges not to allow him to ask a doctor to end his life on Aug. 16, 2012, in Melksham, England. Nicklinson died at home on Aug. 22, 2012.

Locked-in syndrome is a rare neurological disorder in which patients are completely paralyzed, and only able to blink. Patients are conscious and don't have any intellectual problems, but they are unable to speak or move.

Tony Nicklinson's wife Jane attends to her husband at their home as he prepares for a statement to be read regarding the decision made by High Court judges not to allow him to ask a doctor to end his life on Aug. 16, 2012, in Melksham, England.

Nicklinson died Wednesday Aug. 22, 2012 at home. Police said they would not be investigating his death.

Another man with locked-in syndrome, 47-year-old Martin, had also asked for the court to allow professionals to help him die either by withholding food and water or by helping him go to a clinic in Switzerland to die.

The judges wrote that they were both "tragic cases," but said to allow euthanasia as a possible defense to murder "would usurp the proper role of Parliament."

Nicklinson died less than one week after the court's decision on Aug. 22, 2012.

Saimo Chahal, a lawyer representing Tony Nicklinson, addresses the media outside the Royal Courts of Justice following a decision by High Court judges not to allow Nicklinson to ask a doctor to end his life on Aug. 16, 2012, in Melksham, England.

Nicklinson had argued that British law violated his right to "private and family life" as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, on the grounds that being able to choose how to die is a matter of personal autonomy.

He died Wednesday Aug. 22, 2012.