Doctors legally forced to allow girl to commit Suicide.

[Amina516]

http://news.aol.com/article/coroner-...errie%2F697884

Its sad. I honestly have no idea what to say.

Doctors who let a 26-year-old woman die after she swallowed antifreeze acted within the law, a coroner has ruled.
Kerrie Wooltorton, of Norwich in eastern England, is believed to be the first person to use a living will to commit suicide, The Guardian newspaper reported Thursday.
She wrote the document on Sept. 15, 2007, three days before she poisoned herself. She called an ambulance, which took her to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. There, she gave doctors a letter addressed to "To whom this may concern."

Not sure why this is just coming out now, but wow.

[Mr Slugger]

Maybe it's the way the laws are written in England, but I'm pretty sure here that they living will would be voided because I mean if you actually attempt to commit suicide you can be sectioned and committed into a mental hospital. Regardless of how sane and rational you seem to be. Then again it could have been in part the "this has never happened before what do we do?" part, and they had to do something to see who made the boo boo for future cases of this happening.

[gremcint]

You know If I can choose my religion, my looks, my school, my career and any number of things why can't I choose to die?

I have the right to decide whether I live or die and I also have the right to refuse medical treatment. If this is what she really wanted and she was in her right mind then let her do it.

[Nyoibo]

Basically she had a DNR and refused treatment, which is her right to do.

[Greenday]

I'm really not sure what is up for debate. Instead of just saying Do Not Resuscitate, she just said she was planning it but not to resuscitate. She's within her rights to request it.

[BroomJockey]

Unless they could prove she was mentally ill, and quickly, they couldn't legally violate a rejection of life-saving treatment. And they'd have to do more than just say "look, attempted suicide!"

[Boozy]

And they'd have to do more than just say "look, attempted suicide!"

Exactly. Suicide is not always the action of a mentally ill person. It makes us uncomfortable to consider that, but it's the truth.

Some people live with intense and untreatable pain, whether physical and emotional. They have the right to decide if life is worth continuing under those circumstances.

I just hope that this woman exhausted all other options before reaching that decision.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

You know, she was despondent over not being able to have a child. At 26.

I couldn't have a child, either.

Now I'm 46 and guess what I have.

This fucking sucks. FUCKING sucks.

[Amina516]

What threw me for a loop were the responses to this on another forum I frequent (where I originally found the article):

http://allnurses.com/nursing-news/do...ed-428382.html

The opinion (on the other forums) which stunned me was that the girl was selfish for including doctors and nurses who could do nothing for her but watch her die. And that she shouldve stayed home. *NOT my OPINION, its some from my linky up there.*

I mean, i undertstand the reasoning behind why they would say that, but I dont agree at all. Its a sad situation all around.

And RK, yeah i agree. I dont know why @ 26 she thought she was forever barren. Unless she had some medical issues, but theres always adoption and etc. It blows.

[BroomJockey]

It blows.

Yep, completely agree with that. And I can understand the sentiment being expressed by those people in the other forums. Having to watch another human die, wanting to try and save her, but not allowed? That also blows.

However, legally, it really couldn't have played out any other way.

[tropicsgoddess]

I honestly believe that the doctors did the right thing in this sense. I mean I would be pissed off if somebody went against my wishes despite that it's clearly written what I want done. They treated that note like a DNR which is legally binding as well as a living will.

[Lace Neil Singer]

My view on suicide anyway is that it's cowardly and extremely selfish. It's not this girl I feel sorry for, but the doctors who had to watch her die and her loved ones who are forever damaged by her decision.

Had she been suffering from something like motor neurone disease, there would at least have been a reason, but not being able to have a child? Please. Then again, if this kind of response is usual for her at anything she can't control, maybe it's a good thing she didn't breed. At 26, there was all kinds of help available to her, rather than throwing in the towel.

I'm sure I will get bashed for my opinion; and accused of not understanding. Fine. This is a discussion board after all, so not everyone is meant to agree. -.-

[RecoveringKinkoid]

You aren't going to get bashed by me.

Knowing what I know now, with hindsight being 20 20, fuck legal. I would have resucited her.

I mean, I say that, of course, not having been in the room and not being the doctors. But from here, it's pretty easy for me to say that.

Don't want to be rescued, don't plan to die in an emergency room. I'm with Lace on this one.

[Lace Neil Singer]

To me, it's like the people who commit suicide by throwing themselves in front of a train, or who pull guns on the police (in America, who carry guns), so that other people are involved. Why drag innocent people into it? If she'd stayed at home and quietly slit her wrists, there wouldn't be all this. Sure, it would have still be selfish, but at least she wouldn't be forcing a pack of doctors to make a difficult and soul destroying decision.

[LeChatNoir]

If I was at the hospital, likely I would have tried to save her life anyway. If she survived, and the courts upheld her living will, I guess she could try again. But seriously...to kill yourself because you can't get pregnant? IMO that is a symptom of a more serious underlying depression that very well could have been treated with medication and therapy.

I know of women who have been trying for 10-15 years to have a child naturally. It is frustrating, depressing, painful...but they haven't killed themselves over it. I have a hard time believing this girl had exhausted all her options medically. She was only 26.