Robert Latimer talks to Owen Bennett-Jones on The Interview

[Dale_M]

I am linking to an extraordinary interview with Robert Latimer, a farmer who killed his daughter because of the extreme suffering her life had been and would continue to be. The interview makes for hard listening. I could never ask the questions which the interviewer asks and I wondered several times why Latimer agreed to answer them (or participate at all, for that matter.)

bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/the_interview.shtml

Latimer was released, a year ago, on parole after serving seven years for second degree murder. Here is a background article about the murder and subsequent trial.

Robert Latimer, a farmer working a spread in Saskatchewan northwest of Saskatoon, killed his 12-year-old daughter Tracy on October 24, 1993. There has never been any doubt about this.

Latimer told police he did it. He said he loved his daughter and could not bear to watch her suffer from a severe form of cerebral palsy. So he placed her in the cab of his Chevy pickup, ran a hose from the exhaust to the cab, climbed into the box of the truck, sat on a tire and watched her die.

Tracy was a 40-pound quadriplegic, a 12-year-old who functioned at the level of a three-month-old. She had been repeatedly operated on and at the time of her murder was due for more surgery, this time to remove a thigh bone. She could not walk, talk or feed herself, though she responded to affection and occasionally smiled. Tracy was in constant, excruciating pain yet, for reasons not entirely clear, could not be treated with a painkiller stronger than Tylenol.

cbc.ca/news/background/latimer/

Apparently the Latimer case raised significant legal issues.

 

[AveSantaMaria]

Very and deeply saddenning. But is the answer killing the person or in changing society to greater kindness and compassion so that the disabled can suffer less.