Murder, suicide at Oakland nursing home - 64 yr old Woman Shot Disabled Daughter then Herself

[Kadie]

Murder, suicide at Oakland nursing home

By Harry Harris
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 09/14/2009 07:03:57 AM PDT
Updated: 09/14/2009 07:46:10 AM PDT

OAKLAND — A 64-year-old woman fatally shot her handicapped daughter at an East Oakland skilled nursing facility Sunday night then killed herself with the same gun, police said.

The shootings happened about 10:18 p.m. Sunday at the Oakland Springs Health Center, 1833 10th Ave., where Yvette Harden, whose 44th birthday would have been Sept. 20, had been living since 2003.

Police said her mother, Diana Marie Harden, believed to be a Livermore resident, left no note explaining her motive for killing her daughter and taking her own life.

Sgt. Jim Rullamas said early today that police have found "no signs this was going to happen. "

"It's a sad, tragic way for two lives to end," Rullamas said.

Rullamas said police were told Yvette Harden suffered serious brain damage in a car accident in 1994 that also left her partially paralyzed and required her to use a wheelchair.

more...
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_13333240?source=rss&nclick_check=1

[BlooInBloo]

1. Sigh. Sounds like it was too much for her.

:(

[Kadie]

2. I wonder if the budget cuts were an issue.

Things are pretty tough for those that need the most help right now.

[Hannah Bell]

3. that would be my guess.

[pitohui]

8. really? you think 15 years of hell is not enough for being in a traffic accident?

i would sincerely hope that if this happened to me, rather than parking me brain-damaged in some place for 15 years and on indefinitely into the future, someone would love ME enough to put a pillow over my face or something

of course, the mom was relatively young and you can't really ask her to sacrifice her own life to put the daughter out of helpless hell

now mom is in her 60s herself and maybe she's getting ill, or maybe she just accepts that the best is over, and it's time to end the suffering

why do we think it's OK to keep people alive as vegetables? we wouldn't think it OK to do this to the daughter if she were a dog? but it's OK to do this to a human being who once had a brain?

i've had relatives kept alive for a like period of time, with no hope of recovery, but only because in our cruel society of greed it's OK to keep vegetables alive to line the pockets of nursing home investors...

as far as i'm concerned, the mom here is a hero -- i'll admit i know no more of the story than was told in this news article

she knew her life was over once she killed the daughter so was left no real option but suicide

but don't make it that it would be all right to keep someone with no hope of recovery alive w. severe brain damage forever IF ONLY some sucker was around to pay the bills, wrong is wrong, torture is wrong, and just maintaining someone indefinitely who can't even understand what's happening to them...ugh

[Hannah Bell]

10. my guess would be budget cuts.

i'm the child of a severely handicapped (from birth) parent, & i disagree with your take.

[noiretextatique]

4. how horribly sad

i wonder if the mother was ill and worried about who would take care of her daughter. tragic.

[soleft]

6. Yeah

That's what I was thinking.

[noiretextatique]

9. hey soleft...how are you?

I am the duer formerly known as noiretblu :hi:

[soleft]

11. Hey! I didn't make the connection

I'll send you a PM.

[MineralMan]

5. So sad...

Oof!

[Rebubula]

7. Not the first time...

...this has happened. Sometime back in the late 80s or early 90s, a man held hospital staff at bay while he unplugged his son from life support machines and let him die. That case was a bit different than this one but the base emotions, I suspect, are the same.

My heart goes out to all people that are caring for loved ones that are in irreversible conditions.