About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


44 Ind. L.J. 539 (1968-1969)
Due Process of Euthanasia: The Living Will, A Proposal

handle is hein.journals/indana44 and id is 545 raw text is: COMMENTS DUE PROCESS OF EUTHANASIA: THE LIVING WILL, A PROPOSAL Luis KUTNERt She asked me to do it, explained Robert Waskin, a young college student, after he had fatally shot his cancer-striken mother while she lay in her hospital room. The Grand jury of Cook County, Illinois, dis- passionately returned an indictment of murder in the first degree.' The story became headline news, and euthanasia became the subject of editorial comment on radio and television talk shows. After a trial of one week, Robert Waskin was freed by a jury that deliberated only forty minutes before determining that he was temporarily insane when he shot his mother three times. The jury further found that he was no longer insane. The foreman of the jury commented: 'He knew he shot his mother. That was not disputed, but the prosecution failed to show he was of sound mind when he did it.' Robert Waskin is quoted as he prepared to pick up the threads of a nearly shattered life: 'The moral issue of euthanasia. . was not taken up at the trial, and it should have been faced squarely. Some day it will have to be.' This case illustrates a dilemma in the criminal law. The underlying values of our society and the Constitution assert the right to life. The protection of life is basic to any legal order. Indeed, as Thomas Hobbs affirmed, the protection of human life is the prime justification for the existence of a state and the accompanying legal machinery. However, when one individual observes another who is suffering from the pain of an incurable disease or a genetic deformation and, motivated by com- passion, ends his life, the question arises as to whether he should be regarded as a murderer. One so acting takes the life of another, an act forbidden by law; but his actions are not motivated by malice or personal tChairman, World Habeas Corpus Committee, World Peace Through Law Center. Member of Illinois and Indiana Bars. The research assistance of Ernest Katin, Ph.D., is acknowledged. 1. Letter from Patrick A. Truite, State's Attorney's Office, Criminal Division, Cook County, Illinois. The State also charged that the d'.fendant previously had tried to administer sleeping pills. Chicago Sun-Times, Aug. 18, 19'7. 2. Chicago Daily News, Jan. 25, 1969.