Stafford Crown Court
Photo: The Mirror Family members of an 80-year-old woman in England are advocating for legalised assisted suicide after the woman was found not guilty by a UK court in an apparent “mercy killing” of her husband.
Mavis Eccleston, 80, was accused of killing her husband Dennis, 81, with a lethal dose of prescription medicine.
Prosecutors claimed that Mavis had done so without Dennis’ knowledge or permission.
But, according to the BBC, Mavis told jurors at the Stafford Crown Court that she and her husband had both intended to take their lives with the medication, and that they had decided to do so after Dennis’ diagnosis of terminal cancer.
The couple was found in their apartment by family members last February, after they had taken the drugs. The couple was rushed to the hospital and given an antidote to the medication. Mavis survived; Dennis did not.
After the hearing, Joy Munns, a daughter of Dennis and Mavis, called for the legalisation of assisted suicide “so that dying people aren’t forced to suffer, make plans in secret or ask loved ones to risk prosecution by helping them”, the BBC reported.