A Massachusetts man was charged with manslaughter in Connecticut last week, in what is being referred to as the assisted suicide, or mercy killing, of his Alzheimer’s afflicted father.
Remarkably, the commentary sections of the on-line versions of the news story quickly filled with remarks from outraged caregivers detailing the difficulties encountered in caring for elderly relatives, especially those who are in serious physical and mental decline and living a life of unending pain. The overwhelming attitude among the early comments was that the son had done his father an enormous and loving favor by helping him end his life through a combination of pills and alcohol.
But as the news media and elder activists erupted in a firestorm of debate over mercy killing in America, an elderly Canadian woman’s life also is on the line in a courtroom in Victoria, British Columbia, and no one except her family seems to give a damn. Nonetheless, the case of Kathleen Palamarek, whose sons want her confined to an institution while her daughter and son-in-law are fighting to free her, could well set an international precedent impacting the future of tens of millions of American and Canadian elderly citizens.
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Assisted Suicide or Granny Snatching: Liberty or Death?
I am struck by the sentence..."where no one but her family gives a damn..."
ReplyDeleteAint that the truth in guardianship cases?
People do give a dam, it's just that main stream media doesn't give a dam! Free Kathleen Palamarek!
ReplyDelete