8mm
Posted on 07/04/2007 10:43:28 AM PDT by wagglebee
Ottawa, Canada (LifeNews.com) -- A Canadian man who took his wife to an assisted suicide facility in Switzerland so she could kill herself will not be charged. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have cleared retired Anglican minister Eric MacDonald of any charges in connection with his wife's death.
MacDonald accompanied his wife Elizabeth to Zurich and she died in his arms on June 8 after taking a lethal cocktail of drugs to kill herself.
Because assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland and the death did not occur on Canadian soil, the RCMP determined no crime was committed. Had the assisted suicide occurred in Canada, those involved could have gone to jail for as much as 14 years.
"There was no one that actively participated in getting her to the clinic in Switzerland or were instrumental in orchestrating that whole thing," Const. Les Kakonyi told the CBC.
"It would appear that this was done through her insistence and primarily through her own wishes," he added.
Responding to the news, Eric MacDonald told the CBC, 'I said from the beginning that I haven't done anything wrong."
"It's certainly a relief," he added, saying he would not try to "get on" with his life.
He said his wife may have had second thoughts about killing herself if she had known he would potentially be charged with her death.
"She might have had second thoughts about it if she knew police would get involved," he said.
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, also responded to the decision. His group filed the complaint that led to the police investigation after seeing mention of the assisted suicide center in Elizabeth's obituary.
"We believe they fulfilled their role," he told the Herald newspaper of the police efforts to investigate. "We believe due process has taken place."
Elizabeth MacDonald, was who 38 when she died, suffered from a severe form of multiple sclerosis that left her in a wheelchair.
He participated in his wife's murder.
Pro-Life Ping
Ping
Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
Tell that to your Creator,"Reverend".Feel free to ignore this if you're one of those recently minted atheist Anglicans.
People with severe MS live in severe pain. Suicide is common.I can’t make a judgement on this.
How can you call it murder if her active participation was a key ingredient? All he did was refrain from stopping her, and had he done so she would no doubt have found a way to kill herself anyway.
It’s all part of the “I don’t own myself” nonsense.
A retired minister? What a shame! Even religious clergy seem to have forgotten “Thou Shall Not Kill”. He could have declined taking her, putting faith in God. Instead, he took his wife overseas to be killed. He did assist in her death, but unfortunately, he found a place in the world where it is perfectly legal to do so. :(
.
I’m glad he is retired, not that there aren’t plenty more like him in the Anglican clergy, unfortunately.
I was assuming she was an old lady, until I came to her age, 38. I’m wondering how old he is. Did he marry a much younger wife, or did he resign from the church at an early age?
The traditional Christian view of suicide is that it is self-murder. Indeed, suicide is worse than murder because it usually leaves no time or opportunity to repent. So a suicide goes to Judgment straight from having murdered himself.
The husband and the Swiss doctors are, if not murderers, complicit in murder. It is not the proper role of a Christian husband, still less a Christian pastor, to encourage his wife to kill herself and possibly damn herself.
Christianity also teaches us not to judge. We can all hope that this woman will be forgiven in the next life. But that hope for forgiveness would hardly entitle any of us to help kill her, or to do anything that might encourage anyone else to imitate her sad example.
This husband apparently has not only manage to expedite his wife’s suicide; he has also ensured that any other Canadians who want to kill themselves, and have the money for a trip to Switzerland, can do so without fear of legal consequences.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.