Here are a few recent killings that have made news around the country -
New Rochelle man charged with murder in 'mercy killing' (NY):
Paul Weinstein told police that an argument with his wife ”set him off“ and that he shot her dead in their New Rochelle home after he failed to suffocate her with a pillow.Later in the article, he says his wife was "losing it" and that he'd promised to help her kill herself rather than put her in a nursing home or other facility. He has no proof of that, though.
Police cite claim of mercy killing (AZ):
While the article is unclear, it appears that he shot his wife and attempted to kill himself through a drug overdose, but called 911 when he apparently changed his mind about killing himself.A 56-year-old woman was killed by her husband early Thursday in what police say was intended to be a murder-suicide.Police received a 911 call at 4:43 a.m. from a 51-year-old man who said he had just killed his wife and then had taken pills in an attempt to take his own life, said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.
Man accused in shooting described as caring (HI)
(Happily, this is a case in which the murder attempt did not succeed)
Seventy-one-year-old Robert Yagi had tended daily to his terminally ill wife's needs and kept her company since she was hospitalized in October.This is fairly typical of the cases of successful or attempted murder/suicides seen in elderly people. The perpetrators are men. The women have have significant health issues. There is no evidence that the wives in question wanted to die.
Now he faces a charge of attempted murder after allegedly firing a plastic flare gun at her Tuesday night.
A police affidavit filed with the court to support the charge says Yagi "may have tried to end his life at the same time using another loaded orange flare gun" loaded with 12-gauge buckshot.
His wife, Leatrice, suffered only minor injuries when she was shot as she lay in her hospital bed at Castle Medical Center.
Nevertheless, that didn't stop a spokesperson for the Hawaii Death with Dignity Society from attempting to exploit this last case of domestic violence to promote his own organization's agenda:
Scott Foster, spokesman for the Hawaii Death with Dignity Society, believes Yagi was trying to end his wife's suffering.
"When I saw it (on the news), I knew exactly what I was hearing," he said. "We hear it all the time all over the world, rich people, poor people, people in pain, people suffering."
He said Hawaii came close in 2002 to passing a law to allow assisted suicide. The so-called Death with Dignity bill died when three state senators changed their votes at the last minute following intense lobbying by opponents.
So how, exactly does this relate to any legalization of assisted suicide? There is no indication that Yagi's wife wanted or wants to be killed. Or does Mr. Foster believe there should be some sort of law allowing caregivers to order the euthanasia of their spouse or child?
In fact, Foster is just doing what many representatives of pro-euthanasia groups have been doing for years - exploiting cases of domestic violence in which the victim is an elderly, disabled, ill woman by framing them as acts of compassion.
For more information on the research on these types of domestic violence, please read this previous blog entry, in which the research of Professor Donna Cohen is discussed. Interestingly, she gave a presentation at a Compassion and Choices Symposium in October. I cannot think of any excuse for the continued exploitation of these tragedies by assisted suicide/euthanasia advocates after that. --Stephen Drake
