Pennsylvania case a chilling one for death-with-dignity advocates (LA Times)

[pinto]

Pennsylvania case a chilling one for death-with-dignity advocates

A nurse faces criminal charges for handing morphine to her dying father. In California, backers of assisted suicide continue working to get laws changed.

By Steve Lopez
November 5, 2013

I keep waiting for the news that prosecutors in Pennsylvania have come to their senses and dropped criminal charges against Barbara Mancini.

But so far, that hasn't happened, which means the Philadelphia resident, an emergency room nurse, may soon be on trial, accused of assisting in the February suicide of her gravely ill 93-year-old father.

"I can tell you that at times, the stress is unbearable," said Joe Mancini, whose wife is under a judge's gag order and cannot discuss the case against her.

Joe, a paramedic for the Philadelphia Fire Department, is working 60-hour weeks because his wife has been placed by her hospital on unpaid leave until the case is resolved. Her attorney fees have already run in the tens of thousands of dollars, Joe Mancini said. The couple's two teenage daughters are distraught, and Barbara's mother has been hospitalized with chest pains.

From this side of the country, a Palm Springs man has been following the case with keen interest.

"Isn't it just awful?" asked Bill Bentinck, now 88, who was arrested in July of 2012 on suspicion of homicide in the death of his terminally ill wife.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-1106-lopez-dyingwell-20131106,0,6958254.column#axzz2jtCjjCjL

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I read that column this morning, my dear pinto, and I am just horrified.

What century do these prosecutors live in? Her father wanted to die, for crissakes.

She did nothing wrong. Nothing.

[enough]

2. An interesting fact in this case: it was a Hospice nurse who called 911.

This seems a rather strange event, given that part of Hospice care is the agreement that you are not going to seek further heroic emergency measures. Also, the patient reportedly had a do-not-resuscitate order.

snip from the article>

Yourshaw was in hospice care at the time and gravely ill, with renal failure and multiple other life-threatening conditions. While his daughter was caring for him, he asked for some morphine and she handed it to him. Shortly after he took it, a hospice nurse arrived and dialed 911, and Yourshaw was revived even though, according to published reports, he had signed a do-not-resuscitate order.

He died four days later.

snip>

[pinto]

3. Yeah, saw that. I think Hospice nurses have a really tough job.

There may have been some reasoning for the call that made sense to the RN. And I know do-not-resuscitate situations are hard all around at times.