The Forbidden Goodbye of a Husband’s Suicide
Written by the wife of a man who committed suicide, this
is a very harrowing and moving tale. It was not enough that her husband
committed suicide, a fact she has had to live with, but then she was
arraigned by the police and charged with involuntary manslaughter and
assisted suicide, leading to proceedings in court before a jury.
Unbroken Trust (ISBN 978-1-84983-789-7, Simon and Schuster, 2013) was
written by Jill Anderson, the wife of Paul Anderson, a man struck down with
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a mystery “disease” that is not fully accepted by
the medical profession at that time (because there is no specific test for
it, diagnosis made by exclusion of other known diseases).
The narrative is taken mainly from the police statements, which of course
became evidence for the prosecution.
The progression of CFS is well documented, and one begins to understand his
psychological pain (as well as his physical pain), and also her pain, being
wife and carer trying to come to terms with a disease for which there was no
panacea.
Police trying to trap an exhausted woman, going over and over the final
event of her husband’s suicide some months earlier. It is not surprising to
me that some of her responses were slightly different than initially.
“At that point, Jill, you’ve made a decision that he wasn’t going to get
better. Is that correct?” This is almost entrapment.
The story alternates with vignettes from the past, before he became too
infirm, and others when they were able to have a normal married
relationship.
The narrative tends to be somewhat repetitive, as does the repetitive
questions from the police. It would not be an exaggeration to describe the
police questioning as harassment. At one stage she was kept in the police
station for over five hours and then was asked to identify many documents
that had been taken from her home.
At one point, the police question Jill on private papers and diaries, which
she had written to help her cope with her husband’s illness. Those private
jottings were meant to be private at all times, and even her husband had
never seen the jottings. To say that feelings of rape resulted from this is
not too great an association. These jottings were an established method of
anger management, but is there no such thing as privacy any more? It would
appear not.
At B. 385, this book is not an expensive read. Jill Anderson has written a
very moving account of something that could be your worst nightmare. Her use
of the English language is very eloquent, making it a very readable book,
though the narrative at times would make you weep. There has been much
debate about euthanasia, and everyone must make up their own mind and stance
on this. This book only portrays one side. However, Jill Anderson was
acquitted by the British legal jury system, and I am sure the writing of
this book has been a catharsis for her, a person that now deserves some pity
and not persecution.
