A nurse yesterday told how her elderly mother starved herself to death in what the pensioner considered her only legal way to exercise her right to die. Bronwen Davies said she initially struggled to reconcile feelings of extreme anger with a desire to support Jean Davies’s right to die ‘on her own terms’. Twice-widowed Mrs Davies, 86, a long-term right-to-die campaigner, had been battling an increasing number of chronic health conditions – but was not terminally ill – when she ‘reached a point where she didn’t want to go on’ at the end of this summer. Jean Davies, 86, a life-long right to die campaigner, poses for a portrait with her daughter Bronwen at her home in Oxford September 2014 . The former maths teacher began refusing food on August 28 – five weeks before she eventually died on October 1, just hours after being visited for the final time by a GP who had agreed to treat the symptoms of starvation and dehydration. She stopped drinking water on September 16. Yesterday her daughter, who is married but has kept her maiden name, said: ‘I was very angry when my mother first told me of her decision. 'However, I recognised that this wasn’t about me. All the family did. We are all respectful of the fact that it was her life and her choice.’ Miss Davies added: ‘My mother was a fiercely independent lady who had the capacity to make this decision. 'She had been talking about doing this for the last two or three years, if her health deteriorated – although that’s not to say we ever thought it would actually happen. She was becoming increasingly restricted in what she could do. A portrait of Jean Davies aged 15 in 1943, left, and her daughter Bronwen Davies, 60, right . 'Her quality of life was diminishing and eventually she was diagnosed with one chronic condition too many.’ Assisting or encouraging a suicide remains a criminal offence in the UK. But last week Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions, issued new guidance to Crown Prosecution Service lawyers suggesting doctors or carers in such cases should only be prosecuted if they ‘may have exerted influence on the victim’. Miss Davies, 63, from Cardiff, said her mother suffered from fainting episodes throughout her life, which last autumn progressed to her collapsing unconscious in the middle of the night. Mrs Davies also suffered chronic back pain. Although she was still travelling independently around Britain by train until the spring, and was technologically literate enough to order her own grocery shopping online into the summer, she suffered a further ‘episode of acute ill-health’ in May. The former maths teacher began refusing food on August 28 – five weeks before she eventually died . Miss Davies declined to go into further detail about the nature of her ‘remarkable’ mother’s various health conditions. Mrs Davies had been a right-to-die campaigner for decades. A former chairman of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, she wrote a book in 1997 which called for doctors to be allowed to help patients die. In the absence of British laws permitting assisted dying, and unwilling to travel to the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, she believed starvation was the only legal option of ending her life available to her. She feared an overdose of medication would not work. Jean Davies might have been able to find a doctor to help her commit suicide under new prosecution guidelines slipped into operation last week which mean a doctor who assists a suicide is unlikely, in the right circumstances, to be prosecuted. Until last week the rules said that any doctor, nurse, medical professional or carer who takes part in an assisted suicide should be prosecuted under the 1961 Suicide Act. Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders altered the guidance last week in a move condemned by anti-euthanasia campaigners. Her predecessor Keir Starmer published guidelines in 2010 on who would be prosecuted for helping a suicide which said broadly that no one would be prosecuted if they acted out of compassion rather than greed or malice. However, they warned that a medical professional would be prosecuted if the suicide victim was ‘in his or her care’, whether or not they were being paid. Mrs Saunders has now said the phrase ‘in his or her care’ will apply only to doctors who know the suicide victim and have been in a position to influence their thinking. Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill would allow a doctor to provide lethal drugs to someone who is terminally ill and expected to die within six months. Mrs Davies, from Oxford, contacted the Sunday Times four weeks into her fast. In the interview published yesterday, she described her situation as her body shut down as ‘hell’. She added: ‘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. What alternative do I have?’ She admitted that her family ‘don’t want me to die’, but added: ‘They give me absolute right to make my own choices.’ The former choir singer began starving herself after enjoying a final piece of a cake she had baked herself. When she stopped drinking water it left her mouth so dry she had difficulty talking. Miss Davies said her mother hadn’t realised it might take weeks rather than days to die after she stopped drinking. In her final weeks, Mrs Davies was looked after by her four children and two grown-up grandchildren, who took it in turns to visit. She died peacefully at home with Miss Davies and her grandson at her side. Miss Davies yesterday declined to identify the Oxford GP surgery which treated her mother. But her doctor, a Christian who does not believe in assisted dying, told the Sunday Times he had treated her after consulting his defence union who ruled ‘you cannot force someone to eat if they have capacity’. Miss Davies said the case had been referred to the coroner, who was waiting for medical reports before deciding whether an inquest would be necessary. Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said the group supported Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill, which would enable competent adults who are terminally ill to request assistance to end their own life. Dr Peter Saunders, campaign director of Care Not Killing, said he feared Mrs Davies’s case could be ‘seized upon by the pro-euthanasia lobby to further their agenda of legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia’.
Jean Davies, right-to-die campaigner from Oxford, had chronic health issues .
She ‘reached point where she didn't want to go on’ at end of this summer .
Ex-maths teacher began refusing food August 28 and water September 16 .
The former chairman of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society died on October 1 .
Her daughter, Bronwen, 60, claims mother was 'fiercely independent lady'
A nurse yesterday told how her elderly mother starved herself to death in what the pensioner considered her only legal way to exercise her right to die. Bronwen Davies said she initially struggled to reconcile feelings of extreme anger with a desire to support Jean Davies’s right to die ‘on her own terms’. Twice-widowed Mrs Davies, 86, a long-term right-to-die campaigner, had been battling an increasing number of chronic health conditions – but was not terminally ill – when she ‘reached a point where she didn’t want to go on’ at the end of this summer. Jean Davies, 86, a life-long right to die campaigner, poses for a portrait with her daughter Bronwen at her home in Oxford September 2014 . The former maths teacher began refusing food on August 28 – five weeks before she eventually died on October 1, just hours after being visited for the final time by a GP who had agreed to treat the symptoms of starvation and dehydration. She stopped drinking water on September 16. Yesterday her daughter, who is married but has kept her maiden name, said: ‘I was very angry when my mother first told me of her decision. 'However, I recognised that this wasn’t about me. All the family did. We are all respectful of the fact that it was her life and her choice.’ Miss Davies added: ‘My mother was a fiercely independent lady who had the capacity to make this decision. 'She had been talking about doing this for the last two or three years, if her health deteriorated – although that’s not to say we ever thought it would actually happen. She was becoming increasingly restricted in what she could do. A portrait of Jean Davies aged 15 in 1943, left, and her daughter Bronwen Davies, 60, right . 'Her quality of life was diminishing and eventually she was diagnosed with one chronic condition too many.’ Assisting or encouraging a suicide remains a criminal offence in the UK. But last week Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions, issued new guidance to Crown Prosecution Service lawyers suggesting doctors or carers in such cases should only be prosecuted if they ‘may have exerted influence on the victim’. Miss Davies, 63, from Cardiff, said her mother suffered from fainting episodes throughout her life, which last autumn progressed to her collapsing unconscious in the middle of the night. Mrs Davies also suffered chronic back pain. Although she was still travelling independently around Britain by train until the spring, and was technologically literate enough to order her own grocery shopping online into the summer, she suffered a further ‘episode of acute ill-health’ in May. The former maths teacher began refusing food on August 28 – five weeks before she eventually died . Miss Davies declined to go into further detail about the nature of her ‘remarkable’ mother’s various health conditions. Mrs Davies had been a right-to-die campaigner for decades. A former chairman of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, she wrote a book in 1997 which called for doctors to be allowed to help patients die. In the absence of British laws permitting assisted dying, and unwilling to travel to the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, she believed starvation was the only legal option of ending her life available to her. She feared an overdose of medication would not work. Jean Davies might have been able to find a doctor to help her commit suicide under new prosecution guidelines slipped into operation last week which mean a doctor who assists a suicide is unlikely, in the right circumstances, to be prosecuted. Until last week the rules said that any doctor, nurse, medical professional or carer who takes part in an assisted suicide should be prosecuted under the 1961 Suicide Act. Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders altered the guidance last week in a move condemned by anti-euthanasia campaigners. Her predecessor Keir Starmer published guidelines in 2010 on who would be prosecuted for helping a suicide which said broadly that no one would be prosecuted if they acted out of compassion rather than greed or malice. However, they warned that a medical professional would be prosecuted if the suicide victim was ‘in his or her care’, whether or not they were being paid. Mrs Saunders has now said the phrase ‘in his or her care’ will apply only to doctors who know the suicide victim and have been in a position to influence their thinking. Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill would allow a doctor to provide lethal drugs to someone who is terminally ill and expected to die within six months. Mrs Davies, from Oxford, contacted the Sunday Times four weeks into her fast. In the interview published yesterday, she described her situation as her body shut down as ‘hell’. She added: ‘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. What alternative do I have?’ She admitted that her family ‘don’t want me to die’, but added: ‘They give me absolute right to make my own choices.’ The former choir singer began starving herself after enjoying a final piece of a cake she had baked herself. When she stopped drinking water it left her mouth so dry she had difficulty talking. Miss Davies said her mother hadn’t realised it might take weeks rather than days to die after she stopped drinking. In her final weeks, Mrs Davies was looked after by her four children and two grown-up grandchildren, who took it in turns to visit. She died peacefully at home with Miss Davies and her grandson at her side. Miss Davies yesterday declined to identify the Oxford GP surgery which treated her mother. But her doctor, a Christian who does not believe in assisted dying, told the Sunday Times he had treated her after consulting his defence union who ruled ‘you cannot force someone to eat if they have capacity’. Miss Davies said the case had been referred to the coroner, who was waiting for medical reports before deciding whether an inquest would be necessary. Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said the group supported Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill, which would enable competent adults who are terminally ill to request assistance to end their own life. Dr Peter Saunders, campaign director of Care Not Killing, said he feared Mrs Davies’s case could be ‘seized upon by the pro-euthanasia lobby to further their agenda of legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia’.
86, a long-term right-to-die campaigner, had been she ‘reached a point where she didn’t want to go on’ at the end of this summer. Jean Davies, 86, a Oxford September 2014 . The former maths teacher began refusing food on August 28 – five weeks before she eventually died on October 1, just was a fiercely independent lady who had the and her daughter Bronwen Davies, 60, right . 'Her decades. A former chairman of the Voluntary