I’m unclear as to what the wife should be embarrassed about. She was not the one playing around in the basement. Perhaps you think she went knowingly into a relationship in which her life partner preferred painful electric shocks to female companionship. Odds are she didn’t. Men w this type of foible are very good at covering it up. He would not have mentioned, when he proposed, that she would be a lonely wife while he pushed the envelope in his solo ventures.
This woman likely had a rough time of it, whether she ever found out [prior to his death] why he shunned the marriage bed or not. If Hollywood ever made a movie about this type of man he would be funny and fun to be around [what perversion has Hollywood ever not loved?]. In real life they’re horrible partners, as the wife probably learned the hard way.
I don’t understand the thinking on this thread. This woman almost certainly endured a lousy marriage. Her husband’s ‘hobby’ resulted in his death, which as many have pointed out is not the desired result of these autoerotic obsessions. Why should she be penalized all over again, just because she married a screwed up man? Short of a crystal ball, there’s just no way to know w certitude what the spouse is going to be like, and that is just a fact.
I don’t doubt that you are right about the situation she found herself in.
However, I just could not imagine telling people my husband’s cause of death, much less pushing a lawsuit over it.
OTOH, if I was in a marriage in such rough shape, maybe I would do the same thing.