Kerrie Wooltorton's Living Will.

Before she ingested poisons or called an ambulance, Kerri Wooltorton, a depressed, 26 year old, pinned the following living will to her shirt. She wanted to die. She had tried to kill herself 9 times before. On the heels of a revision of the laws governing assisted suicide, British doctors at the hospital where Wooltorton was taken did not treat her. Her death is now causing a stir in Britain; Health Secretary Andy Burnham said the case made him uncomfortable. The laws on living wills may now be reviewed.

14/09/2007 To whom this may concern

If I come into hospital regarding an overdose or any attempt of my life, I would like for NO life saving treatment to be given. I would appreciate it if you could continue to give medicines to help relieve my discomfort, painkillers, oxygen etc. I would hope these wishes would be carried out without loads of questioning.

Please be assured that I am 100% aware of the consequences of this and the probable outcome of drinking antifreeze, eg death in 95-99% of cases and if I survive then kidney failure, I understand and accept them and will take 100% responsibility for this decision.

I am aware that you may think that because I called the ambulance I therefore want treatment, THIS IS NOT THE CASE! I do however want to be comfortable as nobody wants to die alone and scared and without going into details there are loads of reasons I do not want to die at home which I realise you will not understand and I apologise for this.

Please understand that I definitely don’t want any form of ventilation, resuscitation or dialysis. These are my wishes please respect and carry them out.

Yours sincerely

Kerrie Wooltorton