The ruling against 52-year-old Chantal Sabire's euthanasia petition was issued by a court in the eastern city of Dijon on Monday. The ruling was on grounds that doctor-assisted suicide is a crime under French law and that medical ethics prohibits doctors from helping patients to die.
The lawyer of Sabire denounced the court decision and called on President Nicolas Sarkozy to change the law on the end of life.
Sabire was diagnosed in 2002 with esthesioneuroblastoma, an incurable tumor attacking the nose and sinuses. Only 1,000 people worldwide have the rare cancer in the last two decades.
The mother of three from the Bourgogne region in Eastern France asked the court to allow her to die by euthanasia to relieve her from "intense and permanent suffering." The incurable tumor is painful and she has lost her sense of smell, taste and sight.
Sabire will not appeal the court decision and plans to seek euthanasia abroad.
