A murder charge against woman who was accused of killing her mother has been dropped after she argued she helped her mother commit suicide so "she could go out with dignity."

Key Takeaways:

• The woman in the UK has been cleared of murder in the suicide death of her mother.

• Emma Nightingale procured drugs for her mother Lorna, who was not terminally ill.

• After Lorna took the drugs and died, Nightingale was arrested and charged with murder.

• The murder charge was ultimately dropped, but she may face additional charges.

The Details:

Emma Nightingale, age 36, said her mother, Lorna, age 70, "begged" her to get pills so she could take her own life because she was in pain from chronic kidney disease, dental problems, and cataracts.

She explained, "I got in contact with a doctor in Switzerland, as they sell the pills legally there. Mum never would have made the journey, and it was her wish to pass away at home in her own country." She did not provide further details in order to protect the doctor who gave them to her.

In December, after Lorna took the drugs and died from an overdose, Nightingale called an ambulance service.

“She’d had enough and wanted to go with dignity," Nightingale told the Eastern Daily Press. She added, “She wanted for me to be there with her. She was happy and smiling right up to the end, watching all her TV shows in bed surrounded by the flowers I constantly bought her.”

However, Nightingale said she is a Christian and initially struggled with the ethical concerns of helping her non-terminally ill mother to die.

Nightingale was arrested and charged with murder. In April, she appeared in court and pleaded not guilty.

Assisted suicide is currently illegal in the UK and helping someone to commit suicide carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison. Nightingale spent five months in prison, but the charges were ultimately dropped because there was "no longer a realistic prospect of conviction," according to court documents cited by the Eastern Daily Press. It is unclear if she will face any charges in her mother's death, but she said Crown Prosecution Service may charge her with encouraging or assisting suicide. 

“It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. It was the humane thing to do,” she said. “There was no way I was going to let the person closest to me in the world, my mom, who was my best friend, go through that sort of pain and suffering.”

She described her mother's final days, saying:

In the time we had left together, I ensured she was as comfortable and happy as she could possibly be. She gave me the honour of waiting on her 24/7, making her tea and all her favourite foods - soft mashed potatoes, Yorkshire puddings with gravy, crumpets and soft desserts.

She still had a good appetite, and I brought her fish and chips whenever she wanted from the takeaway just across the road. Whatever she wanted, I made sure she had. Just seeing her smiles and contentment while watching her favourite TV shows and enjoying her food was a joy to me.

Nightingale is now advocating in favor of the UK legalizing assisted suicide. The UK has been considering such legislation but it has received a lot of pushback and delay, due to concerns from varied groups.

Why It Matters:

Lorna's final days appear to have been peaceful and without pain, and Nightingale seems to have enjoyed caring for her mother. It's unclear why this couldn't continue or why Lorna didn't receive appropriate care that could have helped to manage her pain and keep her comfortable long term so that she could live out the rest of her days in a similar way.

Ensuring proper care would have been an appropriate act of compassion.

Legalizing assisted suicide for people with terminal illnesses would not have allowed Lorna to legally access a deadly drug cocktail in the UK. What it would do is further the false idea that certain people are better off dead — the disabled, the chronically ill, and those considered terminally ill.

Legalized assisted suicide tells people that suicide is tragic unless you fit into one of these health categories, and as time goes on, restrictions are loosened that ultimately allow even more people to kill themselves until only lives deemed "healthy" are seen as valuable and the rest are deemed too difficult.