The death has occurred of Wicklow woman, Marie Fleming, who earlier this year, lost a Supreme Court appeal in which she had been fighting for the right to end her own life with assistance.

Ms Fleming, a former university lecturer who was in her late 50s, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the 1980s and was in the terminal stages of the illness when she made the appeal to the Supreme Court.

She explained that she had to take more than 20 tablets a day, was in constant pain and could not use any of her limbs. She had no bladder control and often choked due to problems with swallowing.

At the beginning of the year, she explained to a specially convened three-judge High Court that she had been told she may choke to death.

She said that her long-term partner, Tom Curran, was willing to assist her to die, however under current laws, he could face up to 14 years in prison for doing so. Her children could also be prosecuted simply for being in the room at the time of the assisted death.

As a result, she was challenging section 2.2 of the Criminal Law Suicide Act, which ‘renders it an offence to aide, abet, counsel or procure the suicide of another'. She argued that any such offence should be qualified so as to permit an exception in extreme circumstances such as hers.

However, the High Court ruled against her challenge, stating that it could not agree that the relevant legislation was disproportionate.

She decided to appeal this decision to the seven-judge Supreme Court in April. However, they also ruled against her, stating that there is no right to die in the constitution.

Ms Fleming is survived by her partner, son and daughter.