4.2.12 WC: 191694 Assisting Mercy Suicide Another highly emotional case in which science was used to establish the immediate cause of death involved the mercy killing by a doctor of his cancer-ridden wife. Although the media characterized Patricia Rosier’s death as a “mercy killing,” it is more aptly described as a “mercy suicide,” because she alone made the decision to end her life. A mercy suicide, when committed by an adult of sound mind, is not a crime. Mercy killing—the taking of the life of another person who is suffering and usually no longer sentient—is different from mercy suicide in the eyes of the law. The letter of the law simply does not recognize mercy as a defense to murder: it regards all deliberate killings as murder, whether done in the name of love or hate. But suicide is not a crime, though in some religions, it is regarded as a sin. The line between mercy suicide and mercy killing is not always clear. Sometimes it is simply a function of timing or happenstance. When what was originally intended as an unassisted mercy suicide cannot be completed without the help of others, it becomes, in the eyes of a prosecutor, a criminal mercy killing.” What began as a clear case of mercy suicide by Patricia Rosier ended up with the trial of her husband, Peter, for first-degree murder, conspiracy to murder, and attempted murder. The prosecutor sought the death penalty, analogizing the crime to “a serialized gang murder.” The basic facts were not in dispute, but the legal consequences of those facts gave rise to one of the most contentious and emotional cases in Florida legal history. After being told she had incurable cancer and had only weeks to live in excruciating pain, Patricia made the fateful decision to pick the time and circumstances of her death, not wanting to leave it to the unpredictable clock of the cancer. When she told her husband of her decision, Peter said 7 There is a third category that combines mercy killings with mercy suicides. In another