Murder Suicides among Grandparents

[txshellie]

I heard about a local case yesterday evening where a man shot his wife with alzheimers then shot himself. It's cause a firestorm of controversy as some people call it murder and some folks call it .... romantic.....

I went to search for an article about this and it seems that this is not all that uncommon.

Is shooting your wife who has alzheimers then turning the gun on yourself a mercy? The ultimate sacrifice?

What about family you leave behind?

Please take a look at these articles and comment.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/man-...ills-wife-self

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...g=6786,3167439

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizab...b_1402935.html

http://www.vpc.org/studies/amercont.htm

Here someone refers to it as the Ultimate Act of Love:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/suicide...1#.T6AgTJ9YtZU

[stephengfm]

http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publicatio...-4/299-306.htm

Possibly related to alcohol use

[txshellie]

Originally Posted by stephengfm

http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publicatio...-4/299-306.htm

Possibly related to alcohol use

I guess that could be true but how does that relate to choosing to shoot your spouse then killing yourself?

[stephengfm]

When your drinking partner goes down to AD, it's hard to keep drinking.

[rabble]

Not romantic. Tragic, yes.
One would think in a romance novel there is a happy ending,
like in say ... the film. 'The Notebook'.

It seems to me these situations arise from three things:

two outdated concepts which are related to one another

1.) wives as property and
2.) an overblown sense of personal responsibility.

Lastly, insufficient public support for persons with
AD and particularly lack of support for their spouses

You and Elizabeth Marquardt have it right when you call these events 'murder-suicides'.

[ceekeigh]

I don't agree that the act of killing your partner who has Alzheimer then shooting yourself is such romantic. There is nothing romantic in you leaving behind people you love. You should face your problems and not abandon them and causing tragedy.