Health and longevity were paramount to my mother and upon discovering online shopping, her passion for purchasing pills increased exponentially.

This collection of 475 tablets, potions and lotions, represent her predilection for self-prescribing with ‘natural’ remedies. The supplements and creams might have improved the quality and functionality of her body, if the claims on the labels are to be believed. However, one distinctly pharmaceutical product was guaranteed to be 100 percent effective.

At the back of her garage, in an unnamed box, was a sealed bottle of Pisabental, commonly known as Nembutal. With the onset of dementia and my mother’s subsequent death from Alzheimer’s disease, however, the choice to prolong or end life was taken out of her hands.