PERTH, Australia, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- An Australian quadriplegic who went to court and won the legal right die, died of natural causes Monday after refusing antibiotics, his brother said.
Christian Rossiter, who was 49, developed spastic quadriplegia after being hit by a car. He had petitioned the court to allow him to refuse food and water, CNN reported.
Rossiter, who was fed through a feeding tube in his stomach, won his court case last month in what some described as a victory for right-to-die proponents.
The Supreme Court of Western Australia ruled Rossiter had the right to refuse food and water and the nursing facility in which he lived could not be held criminally liable for allowing its patient to die.
However, before Rossiter had the chance to begin starving himself to death, he contracted an upper respiratory infection, for which he had refused all treatment, his younger brother Tim Rossiter said.
