Actress Julie Walters Calls for Debate on Assisted Suicide

After playing the role of a terminally ill doctor who takes her own life, actress Julie Walters has called for a debate on assisted suicide.

Based on the true story of Anne Turner, the BBC drama details the journey of a retired doctor from Bath who travelled to Switzerland to end her life with the help of euthanasia organisation Dignitas.

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Walters, 58, said: "I think it should be debated more. I think for Anne it was absolutely the right thing to do.

"She was an intelligent, informed, articulate woman who knew exactly what the disease was and had nursed her husband through a very similar disease and watched him die.

"She knew exactly what she was doing. It was a very courageous act."

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The actress was speaking in London at a press screening of the film, A Short Stay in Switzerland, which will be broadcast on BBC1 next Sunday, reports the Daily Express.

Turner suffered from progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare degenerative brain disease. In 2006, she travelled to the Dignitas clinic in Zurich, as assisted suicide is illegal in the UK.

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The drama shows the final moments of her life after she takes a lethal dose of barbiturates.

Frank McGuinness, who wrote the drama, said: "It was never our intention to endorse this practice and it shouldn't be seen that way.

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"Both sides of the argument are put before the viewer. This is a process of exploring the issue."

Source-ANI
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