Julie Walters: Dr Anne Turner

A Short Stay in Switzerland

Dr Anne Turner

[Anne is discussing her planned suicide with the doctor from Dignitas]
Swiss Doctor: The procedure will take place in our organisation's apartment. A trained volunteer will assist you. He will have to video you taking the medicine which I will prescribe.
Dr. Anne Turner: [in a weak voice] Yes, I understand.
Swiss Doctor: And your children will be with you.
Dr. Anne Turner: To the end, yes. It's what they want.
Swiss Doctor: Is it what *you* want, Dr Turner?
[Anne pauses for a long time]
Dr. Anne Turner: I thought it was. Thought I knew for sure. But now I know something I didn't before coming here.
Swiss Doctor: What is that?
Dr. Anne Turner: I've broken their hearts.
Swiss Doctor: By dying?
Dr. Anne Turner: By dying.
Swiss Doctor: You are honest. And your children, they are honest too?
Dr. Anne Turner: They are, yes.
Swiss Doctor: Then they are where they want to be - with you.
Dr. Anne Turner: [in a strong voice] Practical matters. Is the taste horribly bitter?
Swiss Doctor: It will be, yes.
Dr. Anne Turner: Does it ever fail?
Swiss Doctor: No, it never fails.
[the doctor signs a prescription for the barbiturate]
Swiss Doctor: It is a strange thing you do today. It does require courage. You have it.

[in a letter delivered to her friends after her death]
Dr. Anne Turner: [voiceover] Forgive me for not telling you in advance of my intentions, for not saying goodbye properly. Because the law in the UK is not supportive, I have had extra complications which have required a certain degree of secrecy. I hope I have spared you some of the pain and grief which those very few people in the know have experienced. My life has been wonderful and varied. I have always recognised how fortunate I am. Thank you for your friendship, love and support. Yours, Anne.

[talking about the UK government's opposition to assisted suicide which forbids her even talking to anyone from Dignitas]
Dr. Anne Turner: I can't even talk to these people in my own country. What kind of ludicrous law would turn us into criminals? If they want to jail the dying, why don't they turn the Houses of Parliament into a prison and leave us all there to rot, powerless and helpless, if that's how they want to keep us?

[reading from her justification to Dignitas for them to assist her to die]
Dr. Anne Turner: I also suffer from increased impatience and I'm extremely irritable, as my family will tell you. My excuse is my symptoms - they might say otherwise!
Sophie: [chuckling] Well, now we have that in writing, Mother.

[Anne tells Sophie that she is now ready to die]
Dr. Anne Turner: I think it's time to book the flights. Soon. A short stay in Switzerland.

[Anne is being interviewed by a film crew in Switzerland]
Dr. Anne Turner: I think it's terrible that people have to come and die in a foreign country.
Interviewer: And can I ask you just one last question: is there anything anyone could say to you this morning to make you change your mind?
Dr. Anne Turner: [very determined] No. Nothing at all.