X-Message-Number: 9251 From: Olaf Henny <> Subject: Murder Charge in Euthanasia Case Dismissed Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 14:02:58 -0800 Below is a report on a high-profile case in Canada, in which a physician, who provided an extremely severely suffering patient with Euthanasia was charged with murder. The case was dismissed by a reasonable judge during a preliminary hearing, but not before she suffered through what must have been an excruciatingly agonizing 15 months of persecution. I do not know if the case will serve as a legal precedent for other similar cases, since it was dismissed in a preliminary hearing. Any legal brains out there? ----------------------------------------------------- Headline: Dead Man's Relatives hope Prosecution Is History Halifax - Canadian Press - Relatives of the man at the centre of the Nancy Morrison case say they hope it's over. The Halifax respirologist was charged last May with the first degree murder of Paul Mills, a Moncton, New Brunswick man who was dying of cancer. A judge on Friday threw out all charges against Morrison Mills' brother, Calixte Mills , said he trusts the judge's decision and he believes, that Morrison acted with good intent. Paul Mills died Nov. 10 1996 at the Queen Elizabeth Health Services Centre in Halifax. Calixte Mills said that the family had asked, that his brother be taken off life-support. Paul Mills had been operated on 10 times in the month before he died. His esophagus had been removed and, noted Judge Hughes Randall, "infection had developed to the point where all healing from all his surgical procedures became irreversible". Evidence shows Mills had begged a nurse to let him die. "I just want to go" he was quoted as saying a month before. Nurse Elizabeth Bland-MacInnes described Mills' death as the most excruciating she had seen in 10 years intensive care. The patient was gasping for air and his chest - minus part of the breast bone - was split wide open with gauze. "Mr. Mills was a person filled with puss and bile," said hi surgeon, Dr. Drew Bethune, "Mr. Mills was in great distress and great discomfort and was in the process of dying in an agonizing way." The prosecution in the case is considering, whether to proceed with a preferred indictment of manslaughter against Morrison. The procedure is used mainly to bypass preliminary hearing, to speed a case to trial. A preferred indictment was used by the Ontario Government in March 1994 to cancel the preliminary hearing of Paul Bernado, who was later convicted of abducting and killing two teens. But a preferred indictment can also be used as a form of appeal if the Crown disagrees with a judge's preliminary hearing ruling. Dalhousie University law professor Steve Coughlan says that, without the option to pursue a preferred indictment, prosecutors have no course of appeal, when a case is dismissed. "An oddity in the Criminal Code is that the Crown doesn't have the right to appeal the decision of a judge in a preliminary inquiry," he says. Noted Ottawa defense lawyer Heather Perkins-McVey says to deny a judge's ruling would be unfair to the accused and, in Morrison's politically charged case would be an abuse of power. "I would say , that it was being used for political means rather than to meet the ends of criminal justice. Coughlan says the defence could ask for a review of the indictment. The most likely argument would be that the prosecution was malicious. (End of article) ---------------------------------------------------------- I am at this time trying to find out if Dr. Morrison can be reached by e-mail. I am sure that she could use some moral supportand would appreciate messages of encouragement, especially, since she still has the threat of this "preferred indictment" hanging over her head. Best, Olaf Henny Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9251