Thursday, January 26, 2006
Dr Anne Turner aged 66 had been suffering from an incurable terminal brain disease called “progressive supranuclear palsy” (PSP).
She was a widow with three grown up children. Some years ago she watched her husband Jack die from a degenerative illness and was determined that she would not suffer the same fate.
She decided therefore to end her life in her own time. “Everyone” she said “has the right to die with dignity.”
Sadly for her the government, most doctors and leading churchmen in the UK do not agree and “Assisted Suicide” is illegal.
Dr Turner began discussions with an organization called Dignitas. In Switzerland assisted suicide is not illegal. Last Wednesday Dr Turner and her family made her final journey to Zurich.
In Zurich she was joined by a representative from Dignitas. The party went to an apartment where Dr Turner, still surrounded by her family, received a lethal dose of barbiturates. Within five minutes she was asleep and a few moments later she died.
On her final journey to Zurich Dr Turner was accompanied by members of the press who had been invited. She wished to publicize the plight of suffers of PSP and she hoped to influence those who have the power to alter the law on euthanasia.
Dignitas is an organization founded by a Swiss lawyer, Ludwig Minelli in 1998. Its aim is to help people with chronic terminal illnesses to die a quick and painless death.
British Press Links News Telegraph
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