[Right_to_die] New venue for CT court case alleging assisted death

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

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Westhartfordpatch reported  28 Jan 11:

Manslaughter Case Transferred to Different Venue

By John Howell

The manslaughter case against a Massachusetts man suspected of 
complicity in the death of his ailing father, a retired West Hartford 
lawyer, was moved Thursday to a different venue at Hartford Superior Court.

The action in Judge John F. Cronan’s second-floor courtroom was mostly a 
formality. The case will now be heard in Part A of the criminal 
division. The third-floor courtroom at 101 Lafayette St. is reserved for 
the state’s most serious cases.

Bruce F. Brodigan, 56, of 63 Linden Ave., Somerville, has not entered a 
plea. The charges that could send him to jail include second-degree 
felony manslaughter and felony tampering with evidence. He is also 
charged with making false statements to police and interfering with 
police, both misdemeanors.

Brodigan, who remains free on $250,000 bond, is scheduled to appear Feb. 
8 in Part A, where Judge Arthur P. Gold presides.

Brodigan’s father, George D. Brodigan, died Sept. 14 in his bed at 50 
Timberwood Road, West Hartford police said. He was 82. Also a former 
interim Superior Court judge, Brodigan had been diagnosed with 
Alzheimer’s disease about four years before his death, police said.

Brodigan died of an overdose of alcohol and amitriptyline, which was 
prescribed to his son, police said. The state Medical Examiner’s office 
was unable to determine the manner of death.

Brodigan initially told police he discovered his father already 
deceased. In a 12-page arrest warrant, West Hartford Det. Dawn Lascari 
said Brodigan eventually told investigators that he and his husband, Tom 
Grasso, were in the bedroom when the elder Brodigan allegedly took his 
life with a lethal cocktail of pills and alcohol.

“Bruce described witnessing George Brodigan’s suicide as the ‘most 
beautiful, loving moment I had with my father’ during his life,” Det. 
Lascari said in the warrant.

Brodigan turned himself in to West Hartford police on Jan. 5.

Evidence collected at the house included a half-bottle of rum, 
do-not-resuscitate orders, financial documents and a copy of the book, 
“Final Exit,” a how-to guide for suicide.

A 1969 Connecticut statute made assisted suicide a Class C felony. 
Physician-assisted suicide is permissible under certain conditions in 
Washington, Oregon and Montana.

The volatile issue of assisted suicide appears certain to inflame 
sympathies between right-to-life groups and advocates for the terminally 
ill. The author of “Final Exit,” Derek Humphry, who is the founder of 
the Hemlock Society, recently wrote about the Brodigan case on his blog:

“Perhaps this court case will publicly highlight the controversial and 
tragic situation of Alzheimer’s victims who want to end it.”

Brodigan’s high-profile attorney, Hubert Santos, has not commented.

George Brodigan was a Marine Corps veteran who started his own law firm 
in 1975 after many years in corporate litigation for Travelers Insurance 
Cos., according to his obituary. He was an interim Superior Court judge 
in 1985 and ’86. A memorial service is scheduled March 5, the 
anniversary of his birth.

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