pic: domstol.se
A man who helped his wife to commit suicide received a 1.5 year jail sentence for manslaughter today in Ångermansland’s district court (tingsrätt). The woman, his wife, had been sick for many years and had asked for help in dying several times. In both a video and a letter, the woman had expressed a wish to not live any longer.
Earlier in the evening, he said, his wife had not managed to depress the needle’s plunger by herself. In the end, the man gave his wife the deadly dose of morphine and oxycontin. The man did not deny his actions, but pled not guilty of a crime.
The court disagreed. “To take another’s life with intent is a criminal act even if it was with the person’s consent” wrote Chief Judge Lena Wahlgren in a statement (DN.se/dom). “Even if there’s consent, it doesn’t mean that you are released from responsibility if you intentionally kill someone (SvD.se/dom).
The prosecutor was satisfied with the judgment. “There’s no evil in this, it’s not about that. It’s just that one doesn’t want to have this be something that can be allowed” said Stina Sjökvist.
Suicide is not a crime in Sweden, and there are some instances where helping a person commit suicide (medhjälp till självmord) is not a crime either. For example, to give a gun to a suicidal person is not a crime, or to place a pill on a person’s tongue. Then, if the person pulls the trigger or swallows the pill, they commit suicide of their own free will, says professor Madeleine Leijonhufvud in this article.
However, as in this instance, if the person helps in a way that is an independent, decisive and ultimate action, it’s another story.
The minimum sentence for manslaughter is 6 years, but the court found there to be mitigating circumstances, for example that the man’s actions were meant to free his wife from suffering, and that he cooperated in the investigation.
Despite that the sentence he received was well under the minimum, the case will be appealed. The man’s lawyer, ex-Minister and radio personality Thomas Bodström, said in his statement that if ever there was a case that should go to the supreme court, this was it (SvD.se/dom).