Aussie quadriplegic starves himself to death

       An Australian quadriplegic who won a landmark legal battle to starve himself to death by refusing food fied yesterday, his family said, ending an existence he described as "living hell."

       An Australian quadriplegic who won a landmark legal battle to starve himself to death by refusing food died yesterday, his family said, ending an existence he described as "living hell".
       Christian Rossiter, 49, who was paralysed from the neck down, died in a nursing home in Perth early yesterday after developing a chest infection, his brother Tim Rossiter said in a statement.
       "I thank all those who have made Christian's life, in his final years, as comfortable and as dignified as possibly," he said.
       Lawyer John Hammond, who five weeks ago won a court battle allowing Rossiter to refuse food and medication, said his client had welcomed death and empowered all severely ill people who wanted to die on their own terms. "He wanted to die and it will be some relief that he is now dead because he underwent so much pain in his final years," Hammond told the ABC TV channel.
       In the historic ruling, a court said that Rossiter, a former stockbroker and outdoor adventurer who became a quadriplegic following two accidents, had the right to refuse to be fed.
       "This is a living hell," he told reporters through a tracheotomy tube during the court case. "I'm Cristian Rossiter and I'd like to die. I am a prisoner in my own body. I can't move, I have no fear of death - just pain. I only fear pain."