An 85 year old woman living on Bowen Island, British Columbia, killed herself with a drug overdose in the presence of her husband because she had developing dementia. She planned to make her death a political statement in favour of the legalization of assisted suicide, writing an extensive blog article explaining her decision and sending a letter to the editor of the Vancouver Sun for posthumous publication. Symptoms of dementia were reportedly progressing and she decided to kill herself before the condition became too advanced. [Vancouver Sun]
The adverse effect of dementia is not evident in the text of the blog or letter to the editor, and a news report of the weekend preceding her suicide on Monday, 18 August described her lively engagement in a literary argument about a Shakespearean play. Her plan to make her death a contribution to the campaign to legalize assisted suicide is being realized through family members and mainstream Canadian media. This kind of development also contributes to pressures on health care workers who do not wish to participate in or facilitate such procedures.