'It is hell': Right-to-die grandmother, 86, starves herself to death over five weeks
A GRANDMOTHER starved herself to death over five weeks and said she had "no alternative" because of the UK's laws against assisted suicide.
Jean Davies, 86, said her fast had been "hell" and "intolerable" but she chose that option as she felt her life in future would be "so bad".
The mother of four, who has two grandchildren, was not terminally ill but suffered from a range of medical conditions.
Ms Davies she could have gone to the assisted suicide organisation Dignitas but wanted to die in her own bed.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, she said: "It is hell.
"I can’t tell you how hard it is. You wouldn’t decide this unless you thought your life was going to be so bad.
"It is intolerable."
It is hell. I can’t tell you how hard it is
The former maths teacher spent five weeks trying to end her life and succeeded on October 1.
It is understood that she spent two weeks of that period not drinking any water.
Ms Davies said her children and grandchildren had supported her decision to die in that way.
She said: "What alternative do I have?
"The other methods to my knowledge are either illegal or I would need to go to Switzerland and I want to die in my own bed.
"I am doing nothing wrong. We are not breaking the law."
She said she had suffered a range of medical conditions including fainting episodes and chronic back pain.
Last week the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) clarified the law on assisted suicide.
It came in the wake of the case of paralysed former builder Paul Lamb and Jane Nicklinson, the widow of Tony who had suffered locked-in syndrome.
Supreme Court justices ruled against the pair in June, but DPP Alison Saunders said the judges' ruling allowed a clarity in the law around health care professionals.
She said the likelihood of healthcare professionals being prosecuted depends on their "specific and professional duty of care to the person in question".
She stressed there is "no immunity" for encouraging or assisting suicide.
But right-to-life campaigner Dr Peter Saunders accused her of "decriminalising assisted suicide by doctors and other health care professionals as long as they don't have an existing professional care relationship with the patient".
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