She begged staff to give her mother morphine, an opioid commonly used to treat severe pain in palliative care settings. Before her cognitive decline, she had told Rachel she wanted to die naturally, but without unnecessary suffering. “All I could think was: ‘Oh my God, did someone accuse me of killing my mom?’”View image in fullscreen A photo of Rachel Waters with her mother, Marsha Foster, in hospice on Mother’s Day, 2023. The day of her mother’s death, Rachel was woken by a sharp clacking sound. Photograph: Haruka Sakaguchi/The GuardianAfter Marsha’s death, Rachel’s relationship with her remaining family – her mother’s brother, Ronnie, and mother’s sister, Gayle – disintegrated.

Source: The Guardian April 07, 2026 11:06 UTC