This horrific story of neglect and exploitation is, unfortunately, not an unusual one. A caregiver, after neglecting his charge, filed a Medicaid claim after his death.
This caregiver was caught because he was not careful to cover up his neglect, but it would not have been hard for him to clean up and escape punishment.
The obvious danger of adding legal assisted suicide to a culture in which this can happen__and is there any in which it couldn’t or wouldn’t?__ is that none of these laws prevent a person who has gotten the lethal prescription from being alone with one other person, who may want him or her dead, either because providing care is too hard or because of a financial interest. As Margaret Dore, attorney, has always said, “Even if the patient struggled, who would ever know?” No one would ever investigate the death of someone who had entered a legal process that required declaring his intent to commit suicide. In the cases in which a caregiver has admitted “helping” a person ingest the drugs, there have been no prosecutions.
Remember that all dying persons are disabled, and most severely disabled persons would meet the definition of “terminally ill” without care. Any person who fills a prescription for suicide drugs is laying him or herself open to murder with impunity.
Here’s the link: http://www.wcax.com/content/news/Barre-Town-man-sentenced-to-4-years-for-Medicaid-fraud-448032153.html