Programska knjižnica 9. Lošinjskih dana bioetike - Hrvatsko ...

Huntington’s disease:
Carol Carr – the true story
Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal hereditary disorder that slowly
destroys its victims’ minds and bodies as it ravages their families. People
are born with the defective gene, but symptoms usually do not appear
until middle age. Early symptoms of HD include uncontrolled movements,
clumsiness or balance problems. Later, HD can take away the
ability to walk, talk or swallow. Some people stop recognizing family
members. Others are aware of their environment and are able to express
emotions. Currently, there is no effective treatment to slow the progression
of HD, and there is no cure. Families affected by HD must cope
with physical and emotional stresses. Because the condition is a dominant
genetic condition, a child of a HD patient has a 50% chance of also
having the condition. In 2002, woman named Carol Carr fatally shot her
two adult sons, HD sufferers, who were living in a nursing home. Carr
claimed that she was honoring her sons’ wishes to end their suffering
once they reached the later stages of the disease. Both her mother-inlaw
and husband had already died from HD, and when her sons were
diagnosed with the same disease, they decided that they did not want to
succumb to the same type of death. Originally charged with two counts
of first-degree murder with malicious intent, she pleaded guilty to assisted
suicide and was sentenced to five years in a prison and five years
of probation. On February 2, 2004, she was released on parole after serving
21 months of her five-year prison sentence. A parole board member
claimed that she had punished herself more than a prison sentence could
ever punish her.
110