[Right_to_die] Sister gets probation for helping brother to die

[World right-to-die news list (nonprofit)]

The Stockton Record, in California, reported   August 2009:

Touch made all the difference

With the turn of a valve, nationwide assisted suicide debate landed 
squarely in S.J. County

By Scott Smith, Record Staff Writer

Lodi resident June Hartley needed to pay closer attention to the book 
she read on how to help her brother kill himself. According to the 
author, Hartley failed to follow a fundamental tenet in assisted 
suicides: Do not touch.

Derek Humphry, who wrote "Final Exit: The Practicalities of 
Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide," said Hartley could have avoided 
criminal charges if she had followed his directions carefully.

Court papers say that Hartley, 44, told investigators she opened the 
helium tanks that suffocated James Hartley, a 45-year-old blues 
guitarist who asked to die rather than suffer unbearable pain in the 
wake of a stroke.

Humphry said June Hartley crossed an important line.

"In my book, it says very clearly, 'Do not touch,' " Humphry said. "The 
person wishing to die must do the switching."

June Hartley's actions brought the national debate over assisted suicide 
to San Joaquin County.

On Dec. 8, investigators arrived at a Brandywine Drive home in Lodi to 
find James Hartley sitting in his wheelchair at the kitchen table. 
According to court papers, a clear plastic bag was over his head with a 
tube attached to helium gas tanks. He was dead.

James Hartley had begged people to kill him after suffering a crippling 
stroke and subsequent brain surgery that left him debilitated and in 
constant pain. Six months earlier, he called Lodi police to his home and 
asked them to shoot him in the head.

His sister finally relented to his wishes and openly described to 
investigators how she did it.

"She helped put the bag and rubber band over his head and open the 
helium valves," says a probation report in June Hartley's court file.

On Aug. 3 a judge handed Hartley what many considered a light sentence - 
community service, a $260 fine and three years of probation. Prosecutors 
had threatened her with prison time before reaching a plea agreement.

They said that by turning the valve herself, Hartley grabbed their 
attention.

She was the first person local prosecutors say they've ever charged with 
a felony for assisted suicide. In the plea deal, she admitted to a 
misdemeanor as an accessory, which means she will not have to do jail or 
prison time.

San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Sherri Adams said the 
sentence is not a green light for others considering the same course.

"It was probably inevitable that he was going to kill himself 
eventually," Adams said. "We could have charged it as a murder and been 
well within the bounds of the law."

Hartley turned the valve of the helium tank in an intentional killing, 
which meets the legal definition of murder. She did this after reading 
the book on assisted suicide, Adams said.

"That's what made it so egregious," Adams said. "She knew well what she 
couldn't do and she did it anyway."

Randy Thomas, June Hartley's Woodbridge attorney, said his client acted 
out of compassion and she is no advocate for assisted suicide.

Thomas declined to discuss the details of Hartley's case - like whether 
she opened the valve because her brother was physically unable to do so. 
Thomas said his client cooperated with police, which resulted in the 
favorable sentence.

"June's an honest person," said Thomas, who was with Hartley during the 
police interview. "We went there and we wanted to show we weren't hiding 
anything."

June Hartley told authorities she had a good childhood. She worked in 
Stockton schools for eight years before earning a master's degree in 
education from Harvard University in 2005. She last worked with 
low-income students at the University of California, Berkeley.

When her brother fell ill, she commuted on weekends from the Bay Area to 
care for him and then moved to Lodi. That close relationship led her to 
assist in his death, court papers say.

"She loved him so much and couldn't bear to see him suffer anymore," 
says the probation report, which recommended no jail time. "That's why 
she helped James end his life, as he had wished."

Thomas said he believes there needs to be a better way to help people 
like James Hartley. The attorney said he has received calls asking how 
to carry out an assisted suicide without breaking the law. Other callers 
want to contribute to his client's legal fund. Thomas said he declined 
to give advice or to accept contributions.

While legal in Oregon and Washington, legalizing assisted suicide in 
California has not gained support. Abroad, it is legal in The 
Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium.

It remains a polarizing topic.

Dr. Mark Mostert, director of the Institute for Disability and Bioethics 
at Regent University in Virginia, opposes it. He says drugs can relieve 
pain and depression, two major factors that drive people to suicide.

Many people are in a similar situation like June Hartley who have to 
watch a friend or loved one suffer, said Mostert, who followed the Lodi 
case through media reports.

"It's highly emotional," he said. "Trying to think logically in such 
circumstances is extremely difficult."

Society doesn't do a good job of educating people about alternatives, 
said Mostert, describing a "knee-jerk route to assisted suicide."

Humphry said the popularity of his book proves the need for more 
information on the subject.

He has sold two million copies of his $17 paperback, which has been 
translated into 12 languages since 1991. Multiple copies are on the 
shelves of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library.

Humphry said Hartley bought her copy directly from him online, but the 
two never spoke.

Humphry said he is aware of his own end-of-life options, including 
drugs, hospice care and assisted suicide. The 79-year-old said he's 
healthy but if he became ill and required mind-numbing drugs, he would 
consider ending his life.

"There are alternatives to assisted suicide, and even I will weigh them 
when the time comes," he said. "If my quality of life is appalling, I'll 
end my life deliberately."