More On California Assisted Suicide Charge

Here’s more on the California woman charged with an assisted suicide.

Lawyer: Calif. woman accused of assisted suicide says she didn’t know pills would kill veteran

An attorney representing a California woman charged with helping an elderly veteran commit suicide says she didn’t know the pills she crushed up into the man’s yogurt would kill him. more

More On California "Assisted Suicide"

Here's more on the California woman charged with assisted suicide. There's no way to know if her version of events is accurate.

Victim of Alleged Assisted Suicide Remembered as Quiet, Good-Natured

Residents say Laguna Niguel resident Jack Koency loved his World War II medals and kept to himself. Elizabeth Barrett has been charged with giving him a lethal dose of Oxycontin mixed into yogurt.

Jack Koency was a quiet man whose shoes made funny noises when he walked and who loved his World War II medals, neighbors said Wednesday.

The 86-year-old Laguna Niguel resident died Sept. 30 in an alleged assisted suicide, and his accused accomplice was arrested Wednesday morning. more

California: Assisted Suicide Or Murder?

Well, how do we know this was an assisted suicide? We only have the perpetrator’s word for it. The person who could assure us that no abuse occurred is dead. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

O.C. woman accused of helping WWII veteran commit suicide

A Laguna Woods woman was arrested on suspicion of helping an 86-year-old WWII veteran commit suicide by mixing drugs into his yogurt, authorities said.

Elizabeth Barrett, 66, has been charged with one felony count of assisted suicide and faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison, the Orange County district attorney’s office announced Wednesday.

Prosecutor Ebrahim Baytieh said Barrett was an “acquaintance” of Jack Koency, who was not terminally ill but had previously suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. more

California Couple Uses Suicide Kit

This is not surprising, but tragic nevertheless. The couple were apparemtly depressed. Instead of finding a n answer to their depression, they simply committed suicide. Very, very sad.

Suicide Kit May Have Played Role In Death Of La Jolla Couple

On Wednesday, San Diego police discovered the bodies of Howard and Elaine Jaffe in their townhome on Caminito Sueno after receiving a welfare check request from their son.

One neighbor said she just saw the couple a few days ago and they seemed fine. Another neighbor said the Jaffes were depressed.

The Medical Examiner's report described a suicide kit on scene. The report indicated Howard Jaffe had a plastic bag over his head with a clear breathing tube leading to a helium tank. He and his wife were seated next to each other on a couch. more

Intention In Assisted Suicide Cases Is An Unfathomable Morass

Here’s the double standard we’ve come to in “assisted suicide” and the “assisted suicide defense” – it seems to apply to some but not to others. In this case, a man said he helped his friend die, and he’s going to trial for murder; yet this is exactly the same sentiment that in the UK, for example, says that if someone assists in a suicide but the intentions are “good” then no charges will follow. Go figure.

May trial set in Davis homicide case

A local man charged with murder in what has been described as a case of assisted suicide is scheduled to go to trial in May.

James Elron Mings, 36, is accused of fatally choking and gagging Kevin Seery, 42, in Seery’s J Street apartment on the morning of Oct. 1. The case is scheduled to go to trial on May 7 before Yolo Superior Court Judge Paul Richardson. more

California: The Press Sometimes Discredits Itself - Deliberate Or Ignorance?

This is generally a fairly good read related to end of life issues in California. However, as we have noted so often on this blog, writers do themselves no favors by asserting that assisted suicide is legal in Montana - it's not.

Wishing for the right to make that final exit

Colleen Kegg hasn't worked out the details of her exit plan yet. But about one thing, Kegg is clear: When she can no longer feed herself or go to the bathroom without assistance, she will take steps to end her life. A rare and incurable neurological disease is gradually stealing the things the 60-year-old Santa Barbara-area resident lives for, and she wishes a California physician could legally prescribe life-ending medication, as doctors can in Oregon, Washington and Montana. Instead, she'll have to find another way.

"I know I can stop eating and drinking," Kegg told me one evening in her sister's home, her speech already slowed by corticobasal degeneration, a condition somewhat similar to Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's disease. more