Matthew Donnelly loved life. But Matthew Donnelly wanted to
die. For the past thirty years, Matthew had conducted research
on the use of X-rays. Now, skin cancer riddled his tortured
body. He had lost his nose, his left hand, two fingers on his
right hand, and part of his jaw. He was left blind and was slowly
deteriorating. The pain was unrelenting. Doctors estimated that
he had a year to live. Lying in bed with teeth clenched from
the excruciating pain, he pleaded to be put out of his misery.
Matthew wanted to die now. His pleas went unanswered. Then,
one day, Matthew's brother Harold, unable to ignore Matthew's
repeated cry, removed a .30 caliber pistol from his dresser
drawer, walked to the hospital, and shot and killed his brother.
Harold was tried for murder