Q:

Distinct SQLite query-result to Python List or Tuple

I have a query that returns e.g. the following result:
Row1: "Schmidt"
Row2: "Schmidt, Meier"
Row3: "Mustermann, Schmidt"

Question: how do I get the results in a Python tuple or list etc:? 
I would like the following list: 
"Meier, Mustermann, Schmidt". 

Each name appears only once. 
Python code which executes the query (used to populate entries for a comboBox):
class DatabaseManager(object):
    def init(self, db):
        self.conn = sqlite3.connect(db)
        self.cur = self.conn.cursor()
def get_names(self):
        sSql = "SELECT   DISTINCT name "\
               "  FROM   patient "\
               " ORDER BY 1"
        return self.cur.execute(sSql)

And this is called from an instance which populates the results into a comboBox:
def populate_names(self, combobox):
        rows = self.db.get_names()
        for row in rows:
            combobox.addItem(row[0])

A:

Create an empty list to hold the names. 
Loop through each name in the query result. 
If the current name is not already in the list, add it. 
Something like this:
names = []
for row in sql_result:
    if row['name'] not in names:
        names.append(row['name'])

