A woman who was born with a debilitating disease has gone on hunger strike in an attempt to end her life.
Kelly Taylor, from Bristol, said that starving herself to death was the only legal way she could end the pain and misery resulting from her rare heart condition.
Mrs Taylor, who cannot walk more than a few metres and is dependent on pure oxygen to breathe, had been waiting nearly 10 years for a heart and lung transplant, but was taken off the list two years ago after doctors told her that a match would not be found.
She was told that her condition would deteriorate and that there was no medication or treatment which could help her.
The 28-year-old said she was determined to take her own life and starvation was the only way she could kill herself legally.
"I decided this was the only way I could do it because of the laws in this country, which are against euthanasia," she said.
"It just felt like the right time to do something about my life and because there was no law to help me die, I thought I would have to help myself."
Fears that her husband, Richard, 47, could be prosecuted in the UK for helping her die led Mrs Taylor to reject travelling to a country where assisted suicides are legal.
She said: "The law needs to be brought into the 21st century.
"People want to die with dignity. That's all I want: some control and dignity."
Mrs Taylor was born with a rare degenerative heart condition, Eisenmenger syndrome.
People born with the condition have a large hole in their heart, which causes enormous pressure in the arteries of the lungs.
The condition gets worse with age and affects mobility.
Mrs Taylor took a drugs overdose three years ago and admits she has considered different ways of killing herself in recent years.
The case will again provoke debate over euthanasia and the right for terminally ill people to take their own lives.
Diane Pretty, 43, made headlines three years ago when she launched a high court campaign to legalise assisted suicides.
Paralysed with motor neurone disease, she had asked for a ruling that her husband would not be prosecuted if he helped her commit suicide and launched a court action when this was rejected.
She started suffering breathing difficulties just days after she lost the case and died within two weeks.
