OPinions on the woman who killed her son?

[SherriHewsonsNipple]

do you think she desverved 9 years?

Am i right in thinking he wasnt strictly speaking terminally ill

no, i don't

it isn't like she is some crazed murderer going after all and sundry.

That's a tough question. If she were not sentenced in accordance with the law it opens the door to precedents for others to "release" their children under similar (or not so similar) circumstances.

One, could, however argue that no-one would know the son better than his mother and she may have been acting from the purest of motives.

What do you think?

I think that I could not say with any certainty that I wouldn't have done the same.
No-one could.
She isn't a danger to anyone else. The law is an ass, as usual.

he wasnt terminal,but his mother has said he was in constant pain.

am sure it was a no win situation for her

the bits that concern me are the degree of planning i think , the fact she went in under an assumed name etc
It wasnt htat she just snapped and thought "i can let him suffer any more"
Id have to know the medical prognosis I htink

She doesn't deserve time

my heart breaks for her I am actually glad she had the balls to do what she did - she is very brave and I hope her son is at peace

I feel terribly sorry for everyone involved.

I dunno. It's so hard - on the one hand, I really feel for her. It must be horrendous seeing your child in that state (and I realise that's an everyday reality for lots). But I still don't think that gives her the right to effectively play God.

There is a part of me that admires her courage - she must have known this is what would happen. But she felt it was the right thing for her son, so she did it anyway. And no, she didn't deserve 9 years. Will it actually be 9 years, do you think?

Thought it was a very harsh term, considering much lesser sentencing for very callous crimes. This wasn't one. Poor woman.

"He had showed signs of improvement but required round-the-clock care. He could communicate only by blinking and squeezing his hands, and had to be fed through a tube.

Inglis, who was doing a nursing diploma, refused to believe an encouraging prognosis from one of the doctors.
"

nah
no way 9 years

My opinion is that I cannot judge what she did. I am not in her position and hope to God I never am.

However, law is not the same as morality. Law of necessity is much more black and white - it is intended to be a set of rules that society can abide by.

If you make exceptions to those rules, they cease to have the same degree of force. Therefore, I think the law could do no other than find her guilty. There is a limit to how much flexibility in sentencing there is.

How long she actually serves is an entirely different question.

I think it must have been terrible for her but like someone else says it was very planned.

She superglued the door shut and barracaded herself in whilst the drugs took their toll on his body.

I cant imagine whta it must be like to be in her situation and I think it is terrible that someone can be left in pain to die when a dog gets more dignaty. I also think its horrendous that they will deny a patient food and water and allow them to die a slow and painful death yet they wont allow people to choose to die.

However this lady took things into her own hands and I just cant decide whether she was right or not.

i dont know that she deserved 9 years,but she had to be punished somehow,she took a life after all.

imagine if she got nothing....and several other parents did the same thing

i think there may be an appeal and she'll be freed

TBH i think it is one of those where you kind of have to trust those who heard all the evidence.

But my very vague impression is that she felt absoloutely that was she was doing was the best for her son. If that is true, and that she loved him immensely, then she probably does not care at all that she is going to jail.
Her punishment will be in her own head, as will her peace with what she did.

were they going to withdraw food and drink any time soon? it was mentioned in the papers but then another article I read seemed to suggest that was just one possibility and that doctors in fact thought he was going to continue to improve.
what I am wary of is the fact that she first tried to end his life only a few weeks after his fall from the ambulance - that surely isn't giving time to wait and see what his injuries might be in the longer term

have to say though, if food/water were going to be withdrawn I think she was brave and right - better to die quickly and in little pain than drawn out like that over a week. if we allow the option of withdrawing food/water when the result is certain death,we should be more honest and just allow a lethal injection

She should have had a psychiatric assessment IMO. These are not the acts of a 'sane' person.

i don;t think a nine year prison term was correct, i don't thikn she is going to kill anyone else. she did , i believe, based n the little i have read, the wrong thing. there had been encouraging words and a prognosis , i read an articel that suggested medics thought he could lead a fuller life in time

i think she was deranged with grief and rage and anger , but was it right? i am not sure

i do think such a long sentence, compared to what other people get for much nstier criems, is wrong

i think she has been made an example of

it is a tragedy on many levels

Pagwatch, those are very, very wise words.

disagree on baracking of Jury

I would like to know how he fell from a moving ambulance

The hting is that sentencing is not only based on her likelihood of reoffending - there is an element of punishment and " sending a Message" too that seems to be the case here

Lulumama - the BBC (I think - might have been the Guardian) said the ambulance door opened 3 times in the journey - he was resistant to being taken to hospital, so I assume he was trying to get out.

I heard a man on radio 2 today whose partner has a head injury and had previously been unable to communicate, unable to move but is now much improved although it had taken a couple of years to get to this stage. The point he was making was that it is often impossible to tell in the early stages what the outcome will be with head injury and great improvements can be seen even when it seems hopeless.

He had great sympathy for the family having been through similar himself but he thought the verdict was right.

It's a very upsetting case.

I've read through the article and I think she's been given a 9 year sentence instead of a life sentence serving at least 9 years. In which case she'll likely be out in 4 tops. She doesnt seem the type to cause trouble. Murder gets an automatic life sentence though, so have I missed that part? Too tired to read properly...

I agree with the law in terms of not allowing just anyone to end anyone elses life, not matter the circumstances. However having never had a child I perceived to be suffering constantly I do not know how I would react.
I guess I'm trying to say I feel terrible for her and so sorry she felt she had to do what she did and I'm not judging, although I stand by the law...mostly. 9 years is too long.