The case concerns Leslie Burke, 45, a terminally ill man with a degenerative condition, who won a High Court judgment last summer requiring doctors to honour his wish for life-prolonging treatment.

At the time the ruling against the General Medical Council (GMC) was hailed as a victory for patients’ rights. Until then doctors had broad powers to withdraw treatment based on their perception of a patient’s quality of life. The judgment introduced a tougher standard of whether a patient’s life has become “intolerable”.

But today the GMC will appeal against the ruling, arguing that the intolerability test is “too narrow and subjective”. The doctors’ organisation believes that it should be for medical professionals to reach a consensus on what treatment would be in the best interests of patients.

The case, which began as one man’s fight for the right to life, has become an international controversy. The Health Secretary has joined the GMC in its appeal, while Mr Burke has garnered the support of the Disability Rights Commission, the Official Solicitor and Patient Concern. Last week the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales also won the right to make representations in the case.

A leading US lawyer has also thrown his weight behind Mr Burke. Wesley Smith, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute of Seattle, said that it could be the most important right-to-life case ever, setting a precedent around the world.

Mr Smith, who advised the family of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the centre of a right-to-life battle between her husband and parents last year, said: “Leslie Burke knows what he wants. If he loses this case . . . doctors are saying to elderly and disabled people, ‘If you want to live, it’s not up to you’.”

Mr Burke, a former postman who lives in Lancaster, has cerebellar ataxia, a degenerative brain condition, diagnosed in 1983. He fears that his wish to be treated until he dies naturally could one day be overruled if doctors decide to withdraw his food and water.

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