Assisted Suicide

There are divided opinions about assisted suicide but Carol Carr had no doubt about her decision when her two beloved children’s suffering became worse than death. There is one woman who thinks assisted suicide should be legal and who can blame her? A Griffin woman, Carol Car, killed her two sons who suffered horribly from Huntington’s disease. Her sons were the second generation to suffer from this dreaded disease. Her husband Hoyt Scott, lay in a nursing home for 13 years. Carol said,” There’s no reason for something like this to happen-lying in a body that doesn’t work,where you can’t talk to tell anyone where you hurt. They let you lay there with a feeding tube and you lay in your pee and stools.” “ They won’t let an animal suffer; they’re put to sleep. But there’s no money in keeping an animal alive.” In 2002 Carol’s sons, Andy Scott 41, and Randy Scott 42, were in a nursing home, bed ridden and in advanced stages of Huntington’s disease, a degenerative nerve disorder that progressively robs those afflicted of muscle control. At the time of the killings Randy had been catheterized because of frequent bed wetting and was crying trying to pull the catheter out. Carol went into the nursing home with a .25 caliber semiautomatic and put a bullet behind the ear of Randy, then shot his brother Andy. She then sat down in a chair to wait for the police. When the police arrived she asked them to kill her. She pleaded guilty to assisting a suicide and was sentenced to 5 years in prison. She served two years. Carol has another son James Scott who also suffers from Huntington’s disease. He supported his mother in the killings and went to the media to publicize Huntington’s disease. Carol was ordered to live away from James and cannot be named his primary caregiver. He lives in a small home seven miles away from his mother. James also believes assisted suicides should be legal. “There should be an easier way than what we had to go through.” he said.” There should be a doctor to do this with medication.” James said he tried to get involved with efforts to legalize assisted suicide but it became too grueling. Carol said, “I wish I could do something but I am too old and tired. Carol’s case was remembered last week after the arrest of two metro area people charged with assisting in the suicide of a Cummings man, John Celmer who was in remission from cancer. Families are split over this issue. Celmer’s mother, Betty, said the suspects should not face charges if they were carrying out his wishes. James Scott gets upset talking about nursing homes. He said his brothers were perfect nursing home patients. They couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, and they made the nursing home money. “I never want to go to a nursing home.” he said.