"They were going to die anyway" is the defense that is being used by William Melchert-Dinkel, a 48-year-old nurse from Minnesota, who is on trial for two counts of aiding suicide.
Melchert-Dinkel is accused of using several different aliases to befriend suicidal people he found through the Internet in order to encourage them to commit suicide, saying that he intended to kill himself as well, and they should make a pact to do it together. He also offered his victims explicit instructions for how to commit suicide, saying he had the medical knowledge to help them do it.
One of his victims, Mark Drybrough, a 32-year old IT technician, committed suicide by hanging himself in his Coventry home in June 2005.
Following his death, Drybrough's family found emails on his computer from a sender, using the aliases "Li Dao" and "Falcon Girl," giving him detailed instructions on how to hang himself.
Other emails, in which the sender identified himself as a nurse with the medical knowledge to help plan a suicide, were also sent to several other people, including some under the age of 13. Eventually the family, with the aid of a youth worker, was able to track the emails to Melchert-Dinkel.
Melchert-Dinkel was also connected by authorities to the 2008 suicide of 18-year-old Canadian college student Nadia Kajouji,who was talking online to Melchert-Dinkel under his alias of "cami" shortly before she was found drowned in a freezing river.
Prosecutors say he has admitted to participating in online chats about suicide with up to 20 people, entering into suicide pacts with 10 of them. Melchert-Dinkel believes that five of these people have actually followed through with their suicides.
Melchert-Dinkel's lawyer argued that he is not responsible for their deaths because they are intelligent people who already had plans to die who would not be swayed by Melchert-Dinkel's online "babbling." He also claims that Melchert-Dinkel's conversations are protected by free speech.
Melchert-Dinkel has waived his right to a jury trial and a judge will be determining whether he is guilty. The lawyers presented their closing arguments on February 24, 2010 and the judge will have 20 days from that date to review the evidence and make his decision.
If found guilty of each charge of aiding suicide, Melchert-Dinkel will face up to 15 years in prison, a $30,000 fine or both.
I have been told by psych professionals that the choice to commit suicide is your own.
However I believe others help lay the fertile groung to put you into the mind set of the deed.
We have a great responsibility for eachother and we fail so often.
Weare not responsible for anothers suicide but I have to say we are responsible for our own issue.
If we refuse the help that is available to each and all of us we indeed have failed to want to live.
But, being judged is another question. Leave that to God !!!
Depression is as serious an illness as diabetes. It is biochemical in nature and although may be helped by medication, chronic depression is largely incurable. Belief in our Blessed Lord may get a depressed person over the chasms filled with sharp glass below; if pushed hard enough by someone who knows which buttons to push, and that depressed person is driven to suicide, that cannot be said to be a willful choice any more than dying of cancer is a willful choice. All of us will have to answer to God for our cruelties and hope He is indeed merciful. In the meantime, we owe it to each other to reach out a hand to those who suffer in misery here on Earth.
I agree with you, Judith on most of what you expressed. I understand the chemical connections. However, I don’t believe anyone has the power to drive someone else to suicide. I believe in the end, it is a willful choice. I am diagnosed with major depression/psychotic features, PTSD, borderline Personality and some other major mental illness that I can’t recall at the moment. To be honest with you I have injured myself and was hospitalized several times because I didn’t want to live. But hurting myself, which could have developed into suicide was my decision. There were hardships which I endured ;serious ones , there are chemicals in my brain, but neither one controls me in the end.
Thanks for replying to my comment. SMM
Nadia did reach out for help. The system failed her! Leave the judging to God?! Are you serious?! I’m sorry Sister, but we will not allow an invisible man to deliver justice!
I think he should go to jail as he helped them to commit suicide by telling them what to do and encouraging them to do that.
When someone is depressed it doesn’t take much to influence there decision.
Playing them the way he did he had no good intentions at all and his goal was to see if he can get them to kill them self.
Yes,from my personal experience,people in our life or the internet can lead as to commit suicide.I had never been suicidal no matter my problems until I met a person asking for help on the internet.After a while trying to support this person,I fell myself on depression.Also I had a site and I received threatening letters.I tried to commit suicide at the end and I have been treated with antiphychotics for something I never caused.My life is destroyed and I cannot still get out of depression.Please do something to clarify that sensitive people can suffer from others and it is not their fault they are sensitive for God’s sake!!!The doctors cannot understand how desperate other people can make you feel.Please stop this.Emotional abuse is a real crime with real wild effect on somebody’s feelings…
after suffering depression and trying to take my own life 3 times I can honestly say doctors give medication too easily that is not what people want as it dulls the mind and steals your value on life. I now put my life in the hands of our Heavenly Father he has shown me that I am loved and my life has meaning.
My wife and I watched the story of William Melchert-Dinkel and the actions noted above on Dateline or 20/20 last month. We were shocked that this sick individual would prey on people who needed a source of strength and courage.
I’ve suffered from depression for over 20 years and have been on medication the entire time and I know how my mind can be easily swayed by my thoughts of worthlessness. However, I’ve always been able to cope with the positive support of others. I can see how these individuals were manipulated into committing suicide.
He knew what people suffering from depression were capable of doing and he aided them in committing suicide.
He deserves to be punished for his deceit and should be convicted for the act of assisted suicide.
He may not have provided the “overdose” as was the case with the infamous, Jack Kevorkian (who was charged with second degree murder), but he ultimately convinced them to commit the act.
All of these deaths were such tragedies…thanks to him.
Overall, I agree. Talk about preying on innocents! This guy did not force the pills (or whatever) down the victim’s throat, but he provided them, a glass of water & an out-stretched hand. As “ill” as some think “we” are, this nurse gets the prize! Hope she gets a good long prison term!
When one “chooses” to commit suicide ,it’s a choice that only he/she made .This person is most surely the only one responsiblefor the outcome .
Agree, in theory. But, I recognize the extreme darkness & utter loneliness these victims experienced.
Also, sleep deprivation, lack of proper medical help, patient refusing to take meds, taking recreational drugs, not eating properly & drinking too much add to the nightmare. (Some or all of these are also indicators of the illness!) So, while it may be difficult to identify THE cause, it’s many causes.
And this twisted nurse was part of the mix.
Ultimately we are responsible for our own actions. Other people are always going to have an impact on your life. I think that the interaction is inevitable. Some relationships are positive, others negative. Then there is the person that knowing that a relation, friend etc can be suicidal will knowingly give that last little push, whether it be in the form of actual words “you aren’t worth worrying about, if you want to die, just do it” emotional abuse, physical abuse. It adds up and some little thing can happen, something most people would be mildly annoyed by, while a suicidal person can take as the last straw and it just isn’t worth fighting anymore. Therapy is the key to leading as normal a life as possible. I personally was in therapy for 16 yrs. I got divorced moved to where I had family and I am no longer suicidal, but I do have days that I have to remember, “there’s always another day and iti will be better”
I believe that in the end the final judgement is yours alone. However, when someone continuously encourages you to do something you are more likely to follow through with it. We encourage children to walk, talk and play- they don’t do it immediately. They do these things without someone helping them along and encouraging them. Depression and suicidal tendencies can be over come with psychological help and family support. If this person is not convicted of encouraging a MINOR to commit suicide then our world and government needs A LOT of help.
I think there is always a ‘certain party’ that is responsible for a person who commits suicide. Parents MUST arm themselves with the tools to recognize symptoms and be aware of their children’s activities – ie. lost loves, bullying, peer pressure, and so on. If the person in question feels that taking their life is the only way out of the pain they are suffering then why has there been no help for them. Too many people are so wrapped up in there own lives to see the suffering of those around them. Expensive insurance for mental health sometimes is to blame. Doctors do not care enough about their patients to see the problems. If you love the people in your lives, please then slow down, take the time to use TWO ears and listen to what they are saying. Maybe you may save a life.
The human psyche is complex and needy of others in time of crisis. That NEED IN CRISIS can go either way, depending on many factors of the people involved BUT I FIRMLY BELIEVE a emotionally compromised individual CAN BE INFLUENCED to do many things beyond the line in the sand that they NORMALLY would resist IF EMOTIONALLY SETTLED.
WHEN will it be studied and recognized that we all carry with us an “effect” or aura that permeates the spaces around us and interacts and influences the other “auras” in the vicinity. Too deep for most people to fathom apparently.
I am shocked by this I have never heard this story before.It is so sad to me that someone would encourage you to take your own life.I believe it is a selfish act done because you feel traped and no one is helping you.The pain the family of these people must feel knowing that you were in such a bad place that you thought the world would be bette off without you.I don t believe this is what any normal person thinks.
I “know” suicide from many aspects and it is so multi-faceted. I made a lethal suicide attempt a long time ago (every expectation of death). A family member died by suicide. Several friends have had family members or friends die by suicide. And I am a psychiatrist. Why does there have to be someone to blame? If anything, I “blame” the horrible pain-depression, mood disorder or whatever else was overloading the person (brain, mind, body, soul, spirit).
These can be lethal illnesses. And for the majority of those who die by suicide, I do not see it as a choice they made. A person needs to be in full working order to make a real choice. The surrounding environment can help or hurt, just like with all things.
Having worked in a hostile work enviorment myself for 3 years…4 in total, but 3 that were hostile. I can tell you that the stress of constant beratement, even when you are meeting and exceeding expectations can definetely drive someone to suicide. It is 1/3 or more of your life, and in this economy it is your source of life. When you exhaust all measures to fix the situation, and find yourself under a chain of planned attacks aimed at getting you to quit…it is unbearable.
Yes this does happen. Some employers do not want their unemployment insurance to be raised. It almost drove me to that point last October. I just recovered and I am back at a new job, but the residual effects of employer harassment are awful. Most corporations have rules set in place to prevent this. Work for a small-medium sized privately owned company and HR does what you ask of them.
So yes
Haven’t read every legal fact of the case, but hope this twisted nurse spends lots of quality time in prison! Psych abuse and willfully going against her nurs license is a start. Wouldn’t you LOVE to see this also prosecuted as a hate crime? I would. She obviously hated extemely vulnerable and ill people & acted on it.
Hate-crime laws are there for some minorities, like gay people. Also, think of changes/adjustments made for those in wheel-chairs to those who have peanut allergies!
For those with mental illnesses, society is still in the Dark Ages! We’re suspect, feared, ignored, patronized & more. WE DESERVE THE LEGAL PROTECTION MINORITIES RECEIVE!
In the meantime, EVERY DAY WE LIVE, WE ARE HEROES.
Wow what a horrible person. I was fairly normal until I met my ex. He has borderline personality disorder and when he decided to gaslight me I can tell you I was close to the edge. He got his net friends to help gang up on me. So yes when you are in a bad place and your only friend is on the net they can influence you. That guy should go to jail.
While I think that inherently we are all responsible for our own behaviors; I also think it is incumbent upon our peers and medical professionals to bear responsibility for our well being.
Depression obscures and distorts a persons perception of reality just as sure as psychosis does. When that happens we are at the mercy of our own maladaptive thoughts.
Suicide is a problem that encompasses much more than just the individual. To say that only the self destructive person is responsible is like saying that snow is responsible for traffic accidents.