1. Suicides Followed Murder Charges - NZ Herald 2
1. Suicides followed murder charges - NZ Herald 2. On this Day - NT News 3. Churches unite in opposition to law reform - CofE News 4. Japanese Police Probe 7 Suspicious Deaths - AP
1. Suicides followed murder charges
New Zealand Herald 24.03.06
A mother and daughter entered into a pact to take their own lives after the death of an elderly family member, a Levin inquest was told yesterday.
Dirk Burghout, 77, who suffered from advanced Alzheimer's, was found dead with a plastic bag over his head in his Levin home on February 5, 2005.
His wife Janna, 75, and daughter Christina, 51, were later charged with his murder but their bodies were found floating in the sea at Houghton Bay on Wellington's south coast in June last year.
Coroner Phil Comber heard yesterday how Mrs Burghout told a widowed family friend: "You're lucky your husband is dead. Mine is still alive."
Mr Burghout's surviving daughter, Helen Daymond, told the inquest how her father had an undying love for his wife Janna that was not reciprocated.
Mr Comber found that Mrs Burghout and Christina Burghout committed suicide and he reserved his decision in the case of Mr Burghout for 10 or 12 days.
He said Mr Burghout's death raised several questions. Did he die by his own hand, was he the subject of a "mercy killing" or did he die from foul play? Mrs Daymond, 49, told the inquest: "Our family problem was alcohol."
She believed Christina was an alcoholic, and her mother was a heavy drinker. She said she got on well with her "Poppa" who valued honesty and happiness.
"He had come to New Zealand from Holland in 1953 seeking to better himself ... My mother said he had no ambition." Even though he had Alzheimer's "he was still a happy man".
"He had an undying love for my mother, who did not give the same affection back."
She said her mother shrank from his affection. Mrs Burghout had "meted out the punishment".
Mrs Daymond said she remembered lying on the ground when she was aged about 4, and her mother kicking her repeatedly. To Christina, their father was the person she hated most in the world.
She had witnessed an occasion when her sister had hit her father across the head with her hand. Mrs Daymond said Christina had talked about mercy killing cases in New Zealand.
Detective Shane Cotter told the court both women had been charged with the murder of Dirk Burghout, who had died of asphyxiation.
He said that a car, registered in the name of Christina Burghout, was found near where the two bodies were recovered on Wellington's south coast in June.
The car still had the keys in the ignition, the radio playing and a court bail bond for murder in the name of one of the deceased.
The car also contained alcohol bottles, dentures, two glasses and several almost illegible, handwritten "farewell" notes on the dashboard.
Mr Cotter said the investigation had initially covered three scenarios: suicide, murder-suicide and the involvement of a third party. Autopsies revealed the women had drowned and had sustained injuries through contact with rocks.
Janna Burghout had written farewell letters to two of her grandchildren, her two surviving children Pieter Burghout and Helen Daymond, and her lawyer.
He said Christina Burghout was arrested for the murder of her father on March 17, 2005. Janna Burghout was arrested and charged with murder of her husband on June 16. 2005.
After all witnesses had given evidence, Mr Burghout's son Pieter Burghout told the court he believed his mother would have made the decision to take his father's life.
"Christina would have assisted and probably done the deed at the behest of my mother," he said. NZPA
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2. On this Day
Northern Territory News WED 22 MAR 2006
10 YEARS AGO A WOMEN who came to Darwin to die under the NT's euthanasia laws had committed suicide, a doctor claimed yesterday. Dr Philip Nitschke said the women came from interstate with family and killed herself with a drug overdose.
Dr Nitschke said a number of people had been driven to ``absolute despair'' by delays in the implementation of the legislation.
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3. Churches unite in opposition to law reform
ERGO Newslist reports from Church of England Newspaper Number: 5812 24Mar06 By Andrew Carey
CHURCH OF ENGLAND bishops have united with the Roman Catholic Church in launching a campaign to prevent the legalisation of 'assisted suicide' this week. The Roman Catholic attempt to distribute half a million anti-euthanasia leaflets and DVDs to each of their parishes in England and Wales is the biggest political campaign by the Church.
Anglican leaders this week also voiced their opposition to the parliamentary move and urged Christians to lobby MPs and Peers to prevent Lord Joffe's Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill becoming law.
The Bishop of St Albans, Christopher Herbert, the lead Anglican bishop on the issue of euthanasia, said that the Bill "strikes at the very heart of our society and could increase pressure upon the most vulnerable." While he said that no one should have to suffer unbearably at the end of their lives, he called for proper provision of palliative care to address the problem.
Writing in The Church of England Newspaper, he said: "Instead of a counsel of despair, we should be arguing strongly and passionately for the investment of more resources in the training and provision of palliative care specialists. Killing is no substitute for caring." He said that the Assisted Dying Bill was based on the belief that the exercise of autonomy and choice were the highest moral goods. Such a belief, he said, was a deeply flawed basis on which to organise society.
He said the intention behind the bill was a first step to euthanasia and claimed it would both damage the doctor-patient relationship and family relationships. "If we legalise assisted suicide it could imply that some people's lives have less worth and value than others." The Bishop of Hereford, Anthony Priddis, called on churchgoers across his diocese to write to their MPs to oppose the Bill. He said that the Bill could put pressure on patients and their families. "No one person's choice is entirely an individual matter. People saying, 'I don't want to suffer' or 'I don't want to be a burden', is perfectly understandable but proper treatment, proper care and proper support for patients and their families in that situation can provide an answer," he said.
The Second Reading of the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, proposed by Lord Joffe, is expected to take place in May.
Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff is spearheading the Roman Catholic campaign against the bill. He appealed to lay Catholics to go to their MPs and "say we do not want this law."
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4. Japanese Police Probe 7 Suspicious Deaths
March 25, 2006, 6:26AM By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press Writer © 2006 The Associated Press
TOKYO — Authorities are investigating the deaths of seven patients in suspected euthanasia cases at a northern Japanese hospital, officials said Saturday.
The patients died after someone removed their respirators at a public hospital in Imizu City in Toyama state, northern Japan, said city spokesman Masahiro Sato, who cited results of an investigation by the hospital.
Police have begun a murder probe into the cases, and investigators suspect a 50-year-old head surgeon caused the deaths of the patients by removing their respirators, Kyodo News agency reported. Police refused to confirm the report.
Sato said the hospital and the city have reported the cases to the state government and police.
Imizu City Hospital head Hidetsugu Asanoi told a news conference Saturday that the surgeon admitted turning off the respirators after only obtaining consent from the families of the seven patients _ three women and four men in their 50s to 90s. The seven died between 2000 and 2005, Asanoi said.
"We have found the deaths of seven terminal cancer patients after their respirators were turned off," he said.
Asanoi said the cases could not be considered death in dignity because the doctor only consulted with the patients' families and did not obtain the patients' consent.
"It is unknown whether the patients had clearly expressed their intentions (for euthanasia), and I find it particularly problematic," Asanoi told a nationally televised news conference. "We apologize for the concerns we have caused to our patients."
The city official said the identity of the doctor was not immediately available. Public broadcaster NHK quoted the doctor as saying that he is fully cooperating with police and he had no other comment.
In 1995, a district court convicted a doctor of murder and sentenced him to a suspended prison term for giving a terminal cancer patient a potassium chloride injection to put him to death.
Imizu City is about 160 miles northwest of Tokyo.
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