A LANCASTER man has been granted the right to life - by winning a landmark legal challenge against medical guidance which could cause his death.

Leslie Burke, who suffers from a degenerative brain condition, was concerned that under current General Medical Council guidelines doctors could stop artificially feeding him if they thought it in his best interest.

At the Court of Appeal on Friday, Judge Mr Justice Munby upheld his wish to live and labelled part of the GMC's guidelines unlawful'.

Now a doctor will not be allowed to withdraw food and water from Mr Burke when he is unable to talk, causing him to die.

The ruling will affect all terminally ill patients unable to communicate their wishes about their treatment.

In his lengthy written judgment, Mr Justice Munby, said: " It is right to make clear at once that I have absolutely no difficulty at all with the vast bulk of what the guidance has to say it is a compelling piece of work.

"Overall, it is a document whose contents should greatly reassure patients and their relatives."

But he criticized it, stating that the emphasis of the guidance is on the right of the competent patient to refuse treatment rather than on his right to require treatment'.

He added: "One can see this error creeping into the guidance in different ways.

"The guidance fails sufficiently to acknowledge that it is the duty of a doctor who is unable, or unwilling, to carry out the wishes of his patient to go on providing the treatment until he can find another doctor who will do so."

The GMC had argued at the hearing earlier this year that the guidance had been misinterpreted and there was no reason for the court to intervene.

The GMC is now seeking to appeal.