Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Seller of suicide kits faces sentencing...

"... for failing to file federal tax returns."

Oh, well, so that's what her crime was.

I was quite flabbergasted when I read this in yesterday's Marquette Mining Journal. I couldn't local the Journal's article on line but other news media report it, including Reuters:


Sharlotte Hydorn, a retired science teacher, pleaded guilty in December to a federal charge of failing to file income tax returns from 2007 through 2010, a period during which investigators said at least seven customers used her kits to kill themselves.

Prosecutors said Hydorn sold about 1,300 of the do-it-yourself asphyxiation hoods during those years but agreed to stop making or selling them as part of a plea deal.
No surprise to hear that Oregon - the US's assisted suicide state - was the source of concerns about Hydorn's activities:

Hydorn gained notoriety after one of her mail-order customers in Oregon, Nicholas Klonoski, 29, described by his family as suffering from depression but otherwise healthy, used one of her so-called exit kits to kill himself in December 2010.

Outrage over that case led Oregon state lawmakers to pass legislation to ban sales of such devices, even though Oregon is one of two U.S. states with laws legalizing physician-assisted suicide for people with incurable, fatal illnesses.
It's an interesting world...

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