'Anne, if you drink this you will die': Why we stood by and allowed our mother to commit suicide

UK Daily Mail ^ | 1/18/09 | Andrea Thompson

[wagglebee]

Sophie Pandit breaks into a smile as she recalls a nervous meeting with Julie Walters last summer. The actress plays Sophie’s mother in a new film and they met after Sophie was invited on set during rehearsals. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t do your mum with a Brummie accent,’ Julie had said mischievously, by way of an ice-breaker.

Sophie knew her mother would have approved. Throughout her life, Anne Turner was known for unleashing her wicked sense of humour to diffuse tension in difficult situations. This never stopped, even in the hours before her death.

Last summer, Sophie, 44, herself an actress, her brother Edward, 42, and sister Jessica, 40, were approached by the BBC, who wanted to make a film about their mother’s extraordinary final years of life.

Three years ago next Saturday, Anne Turner, a 66-year-old retired doctor from Bath, made the journey to the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Zurich to take her own life after being diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy – a rare, incurable degenerative condition similar to Parkinson’s that gradually destroys nerve cells in the parts of the brain controlling eye movements, breathing and muscle co-ordination, eventually leading to paralysis, making the sufferer totally reliant on others.

‘This was a future Mum refused to accept and on the day she was diagnosed, she told me of her intention to commit suicide,’ says Sophie.

‘We were horrified and deeply upset but as a doctor, Mum was under no illusions about the outcome of her illness. She was a fiercely independent woman and she could not face losing that independence or being physically reliant on others.’

[MamaTexan]

However, if uncertain of God's Will doesn't it make more sense to err on the side of life?

I never said it didn't, just that she had the right to follow her conscience.

People may have the ability to voice their opinions about it, but IMHO, no one has the right to judge her for it.

[wagglebee]

The life paid for by the blood of Christ is eternal life- you know, the next one.

And a small group of early Christians took this to be a sign to kill themselves -- they were WRONG.

[wagglebee]

People may have the ability to voice their opinions about it, but IMHO, no one has the right to judge her for it.

The INALIENABLE right to life comes from God, as it is neither man's to give nor take, it is right to judge this as wrong if you believe in God's Law.

[dbz77]

If He DOES have a perfect plan, then this INCLUDES whatever suffering we endure. If He DOES NOT have a plan, then He IS NOT God.

So it was God's perfect plan for a girl to be raped by her half-brother? (2 Samuel 13:1-21)

Or how about a more recent example, when 14-year-old Elizabeth Shoaf was kidnapped, held captive in an underground bunker, and repeatedly raped ? If his plan included those events, then He is responsible . You do not get to plan something without accepting responsibility if the plan goes wrong.

[Lurker]

This is a situation that was quite simply none of your damn business or the States.

I'm as anti-abortion as anyone. But this was an adult making an informed decision.

If she has to answer to God, that's between her and God.

I'd have made the same decision.

L

[dbz77]

She would have benefited, specially by uniting her suffering to the Will of God.

And how exactly does one do that?

Did not Mohammed Atta unite his death with the will of God?

[wagglebee]

God DOES NOT interfere with man’s free will.

[dbz77]

This from the person who is so indoctrinated by the culture of death that you even believe that people should kill themselves to save their family money.

People have, in the past, given their lives for the sake of others.

[wagglebee]

Are you now comparing Christians with Islamofascists?

[wagglebee]

Giving your life for another (combat valor, etc.) IS NOT the same as suicide for financial expediency.

[MamaTexan]

The INALIENABLE right to life comes from God, as it is neither man's to give nor take, it is right to judge this as wrong if you believe in God's Law.

Do you believe it is against God's Law to kill someone in self defense?

[wagglebee]

No, but good try at changing the topic.

[MamaTexan]

No, but good try at changing the topic.

Oh, good grief, I was simply curious.

If you want to go for the 'don't change the topic' ploy, none of your posts are even relevant to mine, as I was speaking of the woman's right to exercise her free will, NOT trying to second guess God.

You've done nothing but be judgmental, which is a game I refuse to engage in. Pardon me for trying to have a simple conversation.

[Geesh!]

[wagglebee]

as I was speaking of the woman's right to exercise her free will,

I agree that she has the right to exercise her free will even if what she chooses to do is wrong.

[Amelia]

Giving your life for another (combat valor, etc.) IS NOT the same as suicide for financial expediency.

What about giving up your life so that your children do not have to suffer the pain of watching you die an excruciating death, and sacrifice all they have to care for you (even if they are willing to do so)?

[wagglebee]

What about giving up your life so that your children do not have to suffer the pain of watching you die an excruciating death, and sacrifice all they have to care for you (even if they are willing to do so)?

I believe this to be 100% morally WRONG.

[dbz77]

So what man does is not always part of God's plan (although God can plan around the actions of man).

[dbz77]

I believe this to be 100% morally WRONG.

Why would it be wrong? If they are of sound mind, that is a decision that is theirs to make.

It is not the same as the children actually killing their parents by poison or shooting.

[wagglebee]

Suicide is ALWAYS wrong.

[wagglebee]

God’s Plan and God’s Will ARE NOT the same thing.