 21/01/10 Fury as mum is jailed for ending son's coma hell By Adrian Shaw
 Frances Inglis and her son Tom
Relatives of a distraught mum who killed her brain-damaged son to end his "living hell" last night demanded a change in the law after she was jailed for murder.
Frances Inglis was told she must serve at least nine years for injecting 22-year-old Tom with a lethal does of heroin because she could not bear to see him in a coma.
But her furious family blasted the life sentence and insisted the 57-year-old trainee nurse acted out of kindness. Eldest son Alex, 26, called for mercy killings to be dealt with under separate laws to murder.
He said outside court: "All those who loved Tom have never seen this as murder, but as a loving and courageous act.
"What this case and others have exposed is a need for a complete rethink of existing laws in regard to people that have been, and will be, in the same position as Tom."
The family had thought of applying for a court ruling to allow Tom to die in hospital, but decided against it as it meant stopping food and water, starving him to death.
Alex added: "How can it be legal to withhold food and water, which means a slow and painful death, yet illegal to end all suffering in a quick, calm and loving way? It's cruel and illogical. The law isn't keeping pace with modern medicine and surgery, which is wrong as it leaves too many people in such tragic and painful existences.
************* Related Links: * Family of mother who murdered brain-damaged son calls for law change Nick Collins, Daily Telegraph *************
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