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Here we have the information we have. He fed and cared for her. These is no evidence of abuse. Not guilty based on what we have.
For can the wife refuse medical aid? If she is competent, we generally allow her that right. Yes? Can she even refuse life saving treatment? She can, right?. Can the husband command her to accept aid she is refusing? That I must doubt.
So WTF is Ana talking about? She thinks he should override his wife's choice, and if he doesn't should go to prison? What's compassionate about that? Ana would "resolve" this tragedy by trashing the old man's remaining life because he wouldn't trample his wife's last wishes? Hmmm. Kinda sick when you look at it that way.
So what IS ana thinking. That is not clear. But here is the alternative. What if the wife was hurt and asking for help and he refused to summon aid for her. What result then? Guilty, of course. Did he have a duty to summon aid if she needed it and wanted it. Of course! On pain of prison? Sure.
So it depends on how you see it. It depends on whether his cleaning and feeding her indicates he cared and would not deny her an ambulance if she wanted one, and also cared enough to respect her wishes. It depends on whether you believe his story, for the law cannot hold him accountable if you do.
Of course he could have called an ambulance anyway, to cover his ass, but the authorities are sometimes disrespectful of peoples choices, some 20 year old airhead might decide the wife was being a "danger to herself" and her last choices should be made by said airhead. Airheads think like that, y'know. So it depends on whether you think either husband or wife might have thought that possible, whether or not it was "reasonable".
It depends on your life experience, whether you find it believable that an old woman might just have had enough of life, and be stubborn enough to follow through on it.
So Perhaps the real answer is that it is not clear at all. That perhaps a jury should consider it, consider all the circumstances, to do what is right given all the information. Let 12 decide, not one. Do we trust them to do that? Probably.
Yet there is his age, and the undisputed evidence he cared for her and fed her. Is he a further danger to society? In such an evil world where Cheney runs loose and is unrepentant, we ask is this case really worth the candle of a jury trial?
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