meshakbethal: Law on assisted dying 'is ridiculous' ? OCEAN Style

Anna Soubry, who was promoted in recent reshuffle, says it is appalling that people have to go abroad to end their life

The laws on assisted dying are "ridiculous" and "appalling", according to a newly promoted health minister.

Anna Soubry, who was appointed parliamentary under secretary at the Department of Health in this week's reshuffle, called for greater "honesty" about when prosecutions would be brought for helping relatives to die and said the legislation needed to evolve.

She also criticised private health care and praised the "fantastic" National Health Service.

Her comments on euthanasia come after Tony Nicklinson, who had locked-in syndrome, died a week after he lost a court case to end his life with a doctor's help.

Soubry said: "You can't say to a doctor or a nurse you can kill this person," she told The Times. But she said that it was "appalling" that the terminally ill who needed help to end their lives had to go abroad. "I think it's ridiculous and appalling that people have to go abroad to end their life instead of being able to end their life at home," she said.

"The rules that we have about who we don't prosecute allow things to happen but there's a good argument that we should be a bit more honest about it."

Assisting someone to die can carry a sentence of up to 14 years' imprisonment.

Soubry also praised the NHS, describing two bad experiences in private hospitals.

"The first time they flushed out my sinuses and I have a hole as a result because it went wrong. The second time I had my ovary removed ? it was horrible. I felt unloved and unwanted. So when I had my gall bladder out, and a polyp on my throat, I had that done on the NHS, it was fantastic. I had both my daughters on the NHS ? for me, The NHS is better," she said.

The highly contentious issue is in the spotlight again after Nicklinson's death. His widow said on Saturday she would continue his fight to for the legal right to die.

Jane Nicklinson said she would appeal against a high court decision made over her late husband because "nobody should have to suffer like Tony did".

The 58-year-old father of two had been refusing food and contracted pneumonia after he was left "crestfallen" by the court's decision. He died at his home surrounded by family on August 22.

Jane Nicklinson, 56, has decided to lodge an appeal herself as his widow and carer. The British Humanist Association has also applied to intervene in the case.

The announcement comes on the day Nicklinson was required to lodge his application for permission to appeal against the court's judgment.

His widow, from Melksham, Wiltshire, said: "I am delighted that I am able to continue what Tony started. I feel very strongly that this issue should be addressed.

"It is too late for Tony but I hope that we can now help those who find themselves in a similar position. Nobody should have to suffer like he did."

Her husband was a keen sportsman until he was paralysed by a stroke while on a business trip to Athens in 2005.

Three judges sitting at the high court in London referred to his "terrible predicament", which they described as "deeply moving and tragic".

But Lord Justice Toulson, Mr Justice Royce and Mrs Justice Macur unanimously agreed it would be wrong for the court to depart from the long-established legal position that "voluntary euthanasia is murder, however understandable the motives may be".

They said doctors and solicitors who encouraged or assisted another person to kill themselves were "at real risk of prosecution". A funeral was held for Nicklinson last week. His family's lawyers said the private service was held in his home county of Wiltshire, but did not provide any further details.