http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/departments//000468.htmlLONDON, ONTARIO--An Ontario judge has ruled that David Carmichael was not responsible for the death of his 11-year-old son, Ian, even though he admitted drugging him, then strangling him.
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Carmichael had confessed to killing Ian, who was described as "energetic" and "loving", because he believed that the boy's epileptic seizures would cause him to develop more severe disabilities and become violent. Carmichael told police he was saving his son from a "living hell" and his family from potential assaults by the child.
Carmichael killed his son on July 31, 2004 -- several months after Ian began taking medication that effectively controlled his seizures. An autopsy revealed that Ian had mild epilepsy, but no other disabilities or medical conditions at the time of his death.
Maybe someone can explain to me why this--no punishment or relatively light punishment for the murder of disabled people--happens even in a country with accessible health care. Is there a lack of social services of other sorts? Is it simply that there is a tradition that offing one's disabled children is OK, and therefore people do it with the expectation that the justice system will not penalize them?
In this particular case, the father/murderer has been found to have depression, and has been sent to a mental health hospital for an indefinate stay. Is the problem that parents are discouraged by social pressure from getting help for themselves? Was this dad's problem a reluctance to admit that he even needed psychiatric help? Or was there an impossibility of getting help? I know that in the US, families are often left without any guidance or support, but I had thought Canada had that situation under a bit better control. Perhaps I'm wrong.
Is the problem that people generally are so afraid of disability, so convinced that a life with disability is not worth living, that do-it-yourself euthanasia is considered OK?
In a world where Physician Assisted Suicide is actively promoted as humane, where is the equally active promotion of the idea that disabled people have a right to life?
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