A French court has told a woman suffering from an incurable facial tumour that doctors cannot assist her suicide. Chantal Sebire (pictured) suffers from esthesioneuroblastoma, a rare cancer of the nasal cavity which will progressively damage her brain and eventually kill her. Already her ability to see, taste and smell has been significantly impacted.

France passed a law in 2005 which allows families and doctors of terminally-ill patients to withhold life-sustaining treatment, but the courts have made it clear that this law in no way permits active measures to provoke death. In other words, "passive euthanasia" (withholding treatment) is legal, while "active euthanasia" (deliberately acting to end a patient's life) remains illegal.

The consequence of this court decision is that Ms Sebire now faces months or years of living with a progressively more painful and debilitating condition. During that time, she may decide to refuse all medical assistance except pain relief. Alternatively, she could decide to travel to Switzerland,Belgium or the Netherlands, where assisted suicide (under certain circumstances) is legal. Ms Sabire has chosen not to appeal this judgment, and her friends say she may soon check into a Swiss clinic specialising in assisted suicide.

For more information on the medical aspects of Chantal Sebire's condition, see here and here.

Chantal Sebire's condition is rare and extremely complex. But the arguments her case raises, on both sides of the euthanasia debate, are very familiar. The drift within law in various European countries has been towards a more permissive response to tragic situations such as this one. Nevertheless, assisted suicide remains a criminal offence in Britain, Ireland and in most European jurisdictions.

Is it time to change the law to give doctors the legal freedom to act deliberately to end the life of a terminally-ill patient who faces months and years of suffering before their inevitable death?