Nurse seeks dismissal of assisted suicide case

Nurse seeks dismissal of assisted suicide case

POTTSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A Philadelphia nurse charged with aiding the suicide of her 93-year-old terminally ill father earlier this year is asking a court to dismiss the charges.

Barbara Mancini, 57, is accused of giving morphine to Joe Yourshaw of Schuylkill County in February.

Defense attorneys argue in a Schuylkill County Court petition that Mancini did nothing more than hand her father his morphine bottle at his request while he was in hospice care at his Pottsville home, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. They also argue that the state law that forbids aiding a suicide is vague and the Supreme Court has ruled that dying patients have the right to adequate pain relief even if it hastens death.

Attorney Frederick Fanelli also said Yourshaw didn’t die until four days later in a hospital, where he was given more morphine.

“There is no evidence linking the morphine he ingested at his home to his death,” he wrote in the petition filed Tuesday.

Mancini’s attorneys say Yourshaw had end-stage diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, and arthritis among other medical problems.

Assisted suicide is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

More than 4,100 people have signed a petition sponsored by Compassion and Choices, an end-of-life advocacy group, urging prosecutors to drop the case.