Arizona man, 86, sentenced to probation after mercy killing of his ailing wife

[GeoWilliam750]

4. We have beaten so many killers

So many diseases, infections, starvation, heart disease, cancer, and so many other things. It is so very much harder to die than it once was - prolonging life has become so technologically easy, and profitable too.

We now live until we destroy that which we worked so hard to create, and that which we love so much.

Ours is the first generation that has had to think really hard about how much care to give our aging parents, and whether another five years in a nursing home bed is a good thing or the ultimate cruelty.

However, the moral dilemma is whether allowing some one to die is the same as killing them. Whether allowing some one to live in suffering is the same as torturing them.

I do not presume to have the answer, but having had a number of family in elder care, there is no way I could serve on a jury, and punish a man for easing the pain of - to him - the most beloved person in the world, in the only way left - to him.

I can also understand that the state must prosecute, or set a terrifying precedent.