A policeman's wife has been arrested on suspicion of the mercy-killing murder of the couple's seriously ill daughter.
Detectives are now examining the exact circumstances of the death of 31-year-old Lynn Gilderdale, who died at her home in Stonegate, in East Sussex, on Thursday.
Lynn was diagnosed with ME, once dubbed yuppie flu, in May 1992.
She spent much of her life unable to leave her bed, communicating with her family through sign language.
She could not bear any light, touch or noise and could hear only one whispered voice at a time.
"She is stuck in that room, not dead, but not alive properly".
There is no known cure for ME and ... ...........
PS 11.12.2008: Someone kindly pointed out to me that I might have misunderstood the article and that the mother might have taken her daughter’s life without her instructions. So I have changed the heading yesterday.
Doctor Speedy and ME in search of medical honesty
Rest in Peace Lynn after so much terrible suffering
ReplyDeleteLynn's tragic story appeared in the Daily Mail two years ago:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-393915/Trapped-bed-14-years-chronic-fatigue.html
This news illuminates the ghastly reality of ME! Poor Lynn, would she have chosen death?
ReplyDeleteI have severe ME and choose to live. Every day there is some reason I am happier to be alive than not. I reserve the freedom to suicide if/when I believe it necessary.
I do not want anyone at all to decide for me how and when I should die. My husbands were very loving to me in public, but both abused me seriously in private after I caught ME. One tried to murder me four times before I was able to arrange police protection and divorce.
a letter from the 25% Group was published in the Times 11/12/08
ReplyDeletehttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article5320756.ece
The Times Letters page print edition and online
11 December 2008
ME patient mourned
More needs to be understood about the sufferings of patients with ME
Sir, Lynn Gilderdale was a valued member of the 25% ME Group and we are all heartbroken by her death (report, Dec 9), especially as we are fully aware of her mother’s total devotion to her.
We represent ME sufferers who are totally bedridden, some of whom are tube fed and dependent on carers, and others who are lucky enough to be able to leave home in a wheelchair occasionally; two other members of our group have recently died with ME on their death certificates.
Despite thousands of medical research papers showing immunological, neurological, endocrine, cardiac and gene expression involvement in ME, it is thought of as an illness of fatigue and even called chronic fatigue syndrome by the media and some doctors.
Our members in reality have to deal every day with truly debilitating, frightening and overwhelming symptoms, and they also have to cope with the loss of anything resembling normal life.
Lack of knowledge from the medical profession, and lack of understanding from a society which has been told for years that ME is merely fatigue, can make this awful situation truly intolerable. Lynn’s mother made the point that ME is greatly misunderstood and that Lynn suffered from the stigma as well as bravely fighting such severe illness.
ME sufferers need to have their suffering recognised, and biomedical research funded, if more deaths are to be avoided.
Hayley Klinger
25% ME Group
Troon, Ayrshire
How much more blood will there be on the hands of Wessely, White and their colleagues before M.E. patients receive the belief, care, research, testing a treatments that sufferers of other neurological illnesses do?
ReplyDeleteThey should hang their heads in shame at being responsible for so many wasted lives, for so much pain and so many deaths.
This letter appeared in the Daily Star 12/12/08:
ReplyDeleteWhat desperation and utter despair must have driven this mother, herself an M.E.
sufferer, to help her much loved child to die.
It seems to me that certain members of the psychiatric profession should be
brought to account for deliberately blocking any hope of biomedical treatment
for M.E. for over two decades.
There is no effective treatment for the terrible neurological illness Myalgic
Encephalomyelitis because the psychiatric profession have taken all research
and treatment funding, whilst insisting that M.E. is an 'abnormal illness
belief'. Sufferers
are made to do graded exercise 'therapy', although exercise makes them relapse,
(sometimes permanently). They are also given useless cognitive behaviour
'therapy' in clinics designed not for them, but for patients with a completely
different illness, the mental disorder 'chronic fatigue'.
American research has proven that M.E. is caused by an ongoing viral,
bacterial and/or parasitic infection. Sufferers here cannot have NHS testing or
treatment such as antivirals or iv antibiotics for these because the NICE
guidelines for M.E. (drawn up by by psychiatrists) only allow psychological
interventions. No other neurological illness is treated only by these means; it
is a national scandal.
How many more deaths and ruined lives must there be whilst members of the
psychiatric profession continue to use this debilitating physical illness as
their milch cow?
May Lynn rest in peace after so much suffering.
In this letter to the press the author has written: "What desperation and utter despair must have driven this mother, herself an M.E. sufferer, to help her much loved child to die."
ReplyDeleteThere are concerns that such assumptions may prejudice the family's legal situation.
Lynn Gilderdale's mother has not been charged. She was arrested on suspicion and released on bail until March. The exact circumstances surrounding this case will not emerge until an inquest has been held and a coroner's report released, and until police investigations have been completed and the file passed to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The CPS will decide whether there is a case for proceeding and whether it would be in the public interest to proceed.
In the meantime it is not known whether Lynn was 'helped to die.'
It needs to be remembered that this is a legal case. The family will have been instructed not to discuss it. Out of respect for the family and mindful of the legal implications it is grossly inappropriate to publish assumptions about the circumstances that led to Ms Gilderdale's death.
I refer readers to this Telegraph report:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3690981/Mother-arrested-over-mercy-killing-could-face-long-wait-for-charges.html
This opinion piece from Dani Garavelli in today's Scotland on Sunday illustrates my previous point very well.
ReplyDeletehttp://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/12700/Dani-Garavelli-Rights-and-wrongs.4791542.jp
Dani Garavelli cites a number of recent cases - the Daniel James case, the Craig Ewert case and that of the Gilderdale family.
Dani writes:
"Whatever happened to Lynn Gilderdale – an ME sufferer found dead in her house in East Sussex last week – it is clear she too was surrounded by love. Her mother Kay, who was later arrested on suspicion of her murder, had cared for her daughter for 17 years, and if it transpires she played a part in her death, it seems likely it was for altruistic reasons."
Set aside the views expressed in this opinion piece (which are the views of the author and not mine) and consider the terms the piece is couched in.
Dani writes: "Whatever happened" and "...and if it transpires". Dani discusses the ethical issues arising out of several recent high profile cases but as to what may have taken place with the Gilderdale family, Dani makes no assumptions; responsible media reporting and commentaries will not do this and neither should we.
We can talk about our emotional responses; we can critique the media's approach to ME (and there have been some very positive representations of the illness, written up with sensitivity); we can discuss the situation for ME patients in general and our own experiences of living with this illness or caring for someone with ME. We can debate the moral and ethical issues that previous cases raise, the law as it stands and how recent developments might lead to eventual changes in legislation and the implications for individuals and families facing difficult situations.
But as far as the Gilderdale family goes, we don't yet know what has taken place. This is what I mean by not prejudicing the case.
Today, the Independent carries an opinion piece by Edward Turner, a trustee of Dignity in Dying:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/edward-turner-a-real-choice-at-the-end-of-life-for-people-who-are-desperate-1065886.html
thanks to whoever wrote that letter to the daily star. it is obvious to anyone reading, that there was no attempt to mislead.
ReplyDeleteit was obviously written with compassion, thought and care, both for lynn and her mother and indeed those of us with severe m.e.
in the aftermath of the shock and deep sadness of learning of lynn's death and in a week of reading so much misinformation and lurid, tacky, attention grabbing headlines and articles and opinions filled with so much misinformation and on occasson bile - i for one really appreciated reading such a letter.
to know someone had taken the time and trouble to write with sensitivity of the truth of this illness.