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Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said there were no witnesses to the incident at Lehigh Valley Hospital. He said the man, identified as Elwood Osman, shot his wife, Mildred, and then killed himself.
The shooting was confined to the room, and "no other patients or staff were placed in jeopardy," Martin said in a statement after the bodies were found about 1 p.m. ET.
"Contrary to some rumors, this was not an active shooter situation," he said.
Chuck Lewis, senior vice president of Lehigh Valley Health Network, which operates the facility, confirmed that the dead woman was an inpatient in the hospice unit.
On its website, the hospital says patients can enter the hospice unit only with a diagnosis of a terminal illness and a life expectancy of six months or less.
All of the rooms are private, meaning there wouldn't have been a second patient in the woman's room to have witnessed the incident.
"This is a very tragic event, and our hearts go out to the family of the deceased and our Lehigh Valley Health Network colleagues who were involved," Lewis said in a statement.
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This story was originally published on Tue Mar 19, 2013 3:58 PM EDT
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Yet another addition to the recent string of geriatric gunslingers.
They just wanted to pass together. I would not call that a murder.
So, sees thru gloss... do you understand the article at all??? The husband could not live without his wife, and I am sure she consented to the death pact. Together forever, through life and death...
if more states had right to die.... people wouldn't get forced into these situations
old ham
I sympathize with this couple and believe in the right to die, like we have in Oregon, but right to die has nothing to do with this man.
Why?
Kind of romantic, in a way...
Hi, stonepipe.
No, I'm afraid I missed it.
screm
Right to die involves terminally ill people who wish to die on their own terms ...... only the woman was terminally ill.
Except then Don, the husband would have been tried for murder. Better they go out together than him end up in jail. Who knows what his intentions would have been if we had right to die laws here.
RIP...
The man loved his wife enough to take her pain away & too much to live without her.
God's speed young man.....
This is why we need the right to die. People linger in agony for months or even years without the choice to die with dignity all because people have this silly notion that if they keep their dearly beloved around longer some miracle might happen and the world will suddenly find a way to fix it.
End of life patients have IV lines, or tube feeding devices. I've witnessed many family, friends, and patients dying. This man could have found a more "caring" way to end his wife's pain. First, ask the nurses and doctors for increased pain medications. We have very strong pain medications that are respiratory depressants and will stop breathing eventually. Sound like she wasn't going to hold on much longer. The right-to-die law needs a lot more discussion, and guns aren't the answer.
Sounds to me like this was another case of crazy "gun-toting" nut that you're all defending. Guns in hospitals are a serious problem now days!!! What if this had been a young man whose wife was in pain, possibly a coma, due to a tragic accident? When is it okay to use the gun? Guns are not the answer.....very selfish man not thinking about the staff who were left to clean his mess. I'm thankful for one less crazy gun nut on the planet.
We would be able to end our lives as this couple did..illegally...but the bible-thumpers won't have it...they shove their religious crap down our throats....lets all hope they suffer greatly and want to end it themselves....
Karlene states: Sounds to me like this was another case of crazy "gun-toting" nut that you're all defending.
I do not believe this elderly man was a crazy gun-toting nut. I think it was merely heartfelt to end his wife's suffering. I am sure that was the best way he could think of to do it, and he wasn't going to live without her. Do I agree with it? It is not for me to decide.
Karlene also stated: End of life patients have IV lines, or tube feeding devices
Terminal patients in hospice do not receive any life support measures. Most hospice patients don't have IV's, and for the obvious reasons. IV's used for patients at the end of life would pump fluid into their bodies that will only accumulate in their lungs, legs, abdomens, and hands and then they drown instead of dying a more peaceful death.
Sadly some family members demand it - even if that is NOT what the end of life patient wants. People need to realize, it is not what you want, but what your loved one wants. Let them die in peace and not make the death worse that it must be.
I have had patients tell me, outside earshot of loved ones, that they feel the need to hold on because family expects them to fight. Be kind, let your loved one know that you love them and are glad to have been a part of their life. Let them know it is okay to die. Take the burden off them.
The Blues got to him hard. Jake and the band will miss you.
We had to do that with my grandmother. She did have an IV and we were able to give her a hit of morphine whenever she looked or sounded distressed (within a certain time frame so we couldn't give her an overdose). The whole family hung around her hospital bed as she lay there unconscious, dying. She would have hated it as it would seem undignified to her. She hung in there for weeks as we all took turns watching her die. The doctor suggested that we tell her it was okay with us if she let go but it wasn't until she was alone, when there was no one watching her, that she finally let go.
Redhead Ranting, I'm so sorry.
Gloss, when you die, it will be alone, in a nursing home, having wished for death for years
When I was in college I was a CMA, I was going to be a nurse. In two years I watched 4 people die, hitting that cursed button, I ultimately quit school, because I knew that if I had the keys to the pump, I'd unlock it for the family, show them what to do and then ask if they would like me to pray with them, and then allow them what God intended us all to have.
Yet another liberal trying to make political hay in a parking lot.
They won't do that. Hospice physicians and staff titrate medications only enough to relieve pain, but not enough to cause respiratory failure; if they did, they'd open themselves up to lawsuits.
We asked them to do that when my mother was in hospice, and they couldn't. We had to wait three weeks for her to die.
Thank God he had a gun to protect his family!!
I believe your "God" is the reason these people died in this manner when they could have had the right to die on their own terms, in peace, without having to use a gun.
In particular, the Roman Catholic Misery Cult has spent lots of money fighting doctor assisted suicide. I've seen the figures at the Compassion and Choices website but, last I looked, they didn't have the link to a journal article (that they had written) available any more.
Yeah, but he didn't need a semi automatic machine gun to do it.
Karlene-2485310....you miss the point...the doctors are at the will of the LAW...the LAW the bible-thumpers have imposed....get a clue!
Karlene.....Many end of life patients do not have IVs or feeding tubes. I do not know if this applies in all non-hospital settings, however it is true in many. My mother is in Hospice Care right now and there will not be any feeding tubes or IVs in her situation.
Nice to see the anti gun crowd and the ignorant, hateful atheists are taking advantage of this sad situation to attemtpt to further their own agendas.....Lovely that you will stand on the bodies of these people, that NONE of you knew to try and feel more important. Sad...the lot of you....just sad and pathetic.
Dr. RiverSong, So does admonishing others makes you feel important?
"Thank God he had a gun to protect his family!!" ... whereas you can twitch in misery for months.
Ruth - "semi automatic machine gun" Ah, thanks for the laugh. That's priceless.
Unless you don't realize that your statement is a first-rate oxymoron; in that case, I'm still laughing, just not with you.
Why the hell wouldn't you make a pill cocktail? If someone is suffering and wants to cross the river, I cannot judge them badly, but to shoot them seems a little harsh. Ban guns 3, 2, 1.....
Banning guns won't be happening anytime soon. I would have probably gone with the pills only for the reason of having someone else having to clean up the mess. If she was in hospice, she was well on her way out anyway. He probably just didn't want to be here without her. RIP
stonepipe2
Why the hell wouldn't you make a pill cocktail? If someone is suffering and wants to cross the river, I cannot judge them badly, but to shoot them seems a little harsh. Ban guns 3, 2, 1.....
-------------------------------------------------------
because the death rate from pill suicide attempts is below 50% for people at home... .and these people were in a medical facility probably making the number more like 20%....
you attempt that and don't succeed, you'll end up suffering the whole way because the staff will never leave you alone ever again.
What you say is true to both of you, but man this is a bitch.
You are right stonepipe, it is a bitch. There are no easy exits on this freeway of life when you are sitting there watching the love of your life dieing. In his mind, he thought he was doing the right thing.
Life is a carnivore...it'll eat you up and crap you out in the end. My sympathies to the man who has to take matters such as this into his own hands.
Apparently you have never seen some one you love dying in front of you. Watching them wither in agony because the medical people wont give them enough pain meds to kill their pain because it might hasten their death or they might become addicted to them. This man probably did exactly what his wife requested him to do. Then he took his own life because the government would have charged him with murder and made him out to be worse then the gang banger that shot that 6 month old infant. Time the medical field started being more concerned with the quality of life rather than the quantity of it.
Maybe she couldnt really swallow
Tiredoldman, I am afraid I have-and I am sorry for your loss.
Optomyst- That is uncalled for! I am flagging you. Nobody kills someone over something like that. Besides, they're in their 80's for heavens sake.
Tiredoldman, I sympathise with you as I also had to nurse and watch my mother die, she was terminal. My father had dementia and did'nt understand why she would'nt get up and cook for him and keep him company. When she passed I was the worst person on earth because I did'nt do enough to help her and keep her alive for him. My father never spoke to me for 11 months and passed never speaking to me again and I forgive him for that but I feel if he had been in his right mind he also would have done something similar to this fellow as they had been married for 59 years and before dad got sick they loved each other very much. R.I.P. both of you
richardharrow- I think Optomyst was talking about swallowing pills and not in the manner you might be thinking.
LOL ;-)
Wow, no anti-gun security system in that hospital/hospice?
WTF is an anti-gun security system???
Security check point entering the hospital to make sure that no guns are being brought onto the premises, just like at court houses, etc. With all of these gun incidents lately, I'm surprised the hospital didn't have better security is all.
You mean a metal dectector??? That will make you feel all warm inside if they had that?
What do you mean all these gun incidents lately? Gun violence has been on a huge decline since 1990. Your mind truly reflects back to you whatever story you see mostly commonly in the news doesn't it?
An anti-gun security system in a place that people go to die is sort of ironic.
I agree with anti-trust proponent as long as it is his taxes alone that pay for that security. Seems like these tax and spend idiots are breeding like rabbits.
To watch your spouse slowly dying in pain, agony and misery is something that is generally left out of the discussions regarding end of life care, which is, understandably, focused on the patient's wishes and state of mind. While I have no information beyond what was offered in the news article, I do know that oftentimes, a terminal patient, nearing the end of their life, is no longer able to swallow pills, or any liquids for that matter, so he was likely unable to administer a lethal dose of pills as some commentators have suggested he should have done. Near the end, a patient, while nearly always unconscious, can seem uncomfortable to his/her relatives, moan as if in pain (and perhaps is in pain) and can also display other behavior, like gripping the bedside rails, or spontaneous or labored breathing. It was likely unbearable for him to handle any longer. Remember too that her illness was likely a long and painful journey of losses--of function, body integrity, relationships, and lucidity. One simply cannot "understand" these tragic occurrences without the context in which it all unfolded.
Please don't judge this man harshly. His pain and anguish was real, and something many if not most of us have had to live through. My condolences to their families.
@Bill
I agree. I will not judge this man's actions. However, I will judge the actions of "pro-lifers" who have made many attempts at blocking the rights of a a patients to die on their own terms.
What if the Godfather was there?
Bill,
That was the most well thought out, rational post I've seen in quite some time. So often on comment boards, people start their discussion with opinion, bad jokes, and debate over topics. It's stories like these that we must focus on the humanity rather than whatever controversial thing might've happened. This man went through hell and back along with his wife and ended it out because of unconditional love.
How sweet...a love story. It'll be on A&E next week...or maybe an episode of American Guns or Gun Country.
Isn't it nice that in "Christian America" the elderly forced to make decisions like this? Why couldn't they choose to lie together comfortably in bed, take some pills, and not wake up again? Do "Christians" really think they still had something to live for?
wtf?
Are you serious??? You have to bring up religion, like the other special person who brought up gun control.
You know, it's not just us Christians who are apposed to taking ones life, but people who do not have faith at all. But you wouldn't know that, would you? Because that would require you to think and look outside the box and see that not everyone who has moral values is a Christian.
We cannot stop people, and it's sad that the wife was suffering from illness that would have overcome her at some point. They went together as a couple, like so many hope to do when they are married and are in a solid, committed, loving relationship with their soul mate. I pray I get lucky and go with my husband and you know what? As a Christian, I have toyed with that though, and before I met him I came close.
This just shows, I am human. As are you, even though you are one of the trolls that loves to stir the pot.
ExYahoo is either a troll or another angry Atheist. I'm going to say that he's both.
What a terrible situation, from the husbands side. I applaud his devotion and love and, yes, action, yet, don't support it legally as it's only a few steps away from Soyent Green or less.
I hope I have a spouse who would do the same. Would I have the courage/understanding to do the same? I don't know.
My husband made me promise him to do it many years ago, repeatedly, and I know he'd do it for me. But it would break my heart.
I made my wife promise to do it to me repeatedly, too..
My wife has sworn to do it to me whether I'm ready or not on many occasions. Good thing she's a poor shot!
I sat with my wife while she was in hospice and wished that I could pass with her. If I had been 83 instead of 50, I would have done the same thing.
Geez man. Sorry to hear that.
Sorry to hear that. =(
Sorry Bro. I watched my father in law pass but the good thing is he got to pass at home with the family right by him. I can not imagine the pain of losing a spouse
My mother's last few weeks in hospice, each time she woke, she cried because she prayed daily not to wake up again. When she finally passed, my 86 y.o. father began to pray he could go join her. It took three pain-filled years before he finally succumbed. While this is a very sad news item, I'd find it quite hard to attempt to levy any judgments on this gentleman.
My condolences to you on the loss of your wife.
God bless that you had the courage to live.
engnenk.... so sorry for your loss...
May they rest in peace. I do understand.
What caused the "active shooter" rumors? An army of heavily armed and armor clad SWAT storm troopers? Lockdowns?
Good old American overreaction is what caused that.
The sky is falling...
I think it's going to start happening more and more. RIP!!
Good on them. If they did have a pact, guns or not, I'm sure they would have followed through by other methods. Hopefully a bullet was a lot quicker for them considering there is no real legal alternative. Just going to be sad people think of it as a murder.
It is a shame that people don't have the choice to die with dignity in this country.
Didn't Oregon pass an assisted suicide law?
My wife has instructions to end me if I am terminally wasting away in a hospital bed - I am willing to do the same for her. Let us make our own decisions on how we end our lives if we so wish.
If you are in a hospital bed and dying all you have to do is refuse food and water. No feeding tubes or IVs except for pain medication. But you have to have a living will to do that. My grandmother did. She refused any food or water and died in her sleep.
You are either very naive and/or very lucky if this is true.
Doctor assisted suicide is highly benevolent and should be legal throughout the country. To those who worry about abuses, I will point out that many rights come with potential abuses. Just because some may abuse a right is no reason to take it away from everyone. Also, take a look at the Oregon law which legalizes doctor assisted suicide; it's loaded with protections and there was a study done several years ago that found no abuses to-that-date. You can link to the rules from Oregon's Death With Dignity Act (link) web page. No one is going to force you to take advantage of this law; and I claim it as a right for myself and others.
BTW, the organization Compassion and Choices (link) is, I believe, the main advocacy group for the whole range of end-of-life choices. Their legal team fights for these choices in court and they also provide counseling.
MelJM,I wholeheartedly agree with you.
God Bless them both. Again a perfect example of how we can humanely put our pets out of their misery, but yet, we let humans suffer.
AMEN, i say that all the time...
Much of our global society is delusional and immature, relative to the true meaning and spirit of life.
Eventually we, in the USA, and elsewhere around the world will honor the late, great, reasonable, rational, kind, passionate, considerate, honest, and courageous Dr. Jack Kevorkian. For those you who don't know who Dr. Kevorkian is, you owe it to yourself to find out.
There is no question that there is a global need for the gracious acceptance of human euthanasia.
I trust that some of you have seen human misery and suffering go far beyond what a rational and mature society would accept. If you have, you understand the "WHY" of what the husband did. Like some of you commenting, I am very sorry that the couple needed a firearm to find comfort.
It's a shame that we will put down suffering DOGS in this country but we won't allow the same compassion for HUMANS. So sad. The man just wanted to end his wife's suffering. And he didn't want to go to prison for doing it.
I totally understand his actions and believe I would have done the same thing. With that all said; all of you professing how assisted suicide would have avoided this whole incident I believe are in error. While a state which has assisted suicide laws (which I agree with BTW) may have applied to her since she was terminal it may not have applied to him because he was not physically terminal. I don't know how one would write an assisted suicide law that allowed a healthy spouse to be terminated at the same time, seems like a slippery slope. In that case, if he wanted to pass with her this was probably his only option. For those saying if there were assisted suicide laws (which I agree with BTW) to allow them to die with dignity this would not have happened are also wrong because as can be seen by other comments they did die with dignity law or no law. For those who say this is somehow God's fault… well you're just stupid.
He might have wanted to "pass with her" because, after killing her (which I completely understand), his alternative would have been prison on a murder rap...
genafan201,I believe that you are correct in your assessment of the situation.Had assisted suicide been available he would not have had to end her life like this.this is tragic on so many levels.
So far, this is the most civilized blog I have been on in weeks. Thanks everybody. Sometimes we can agree on the subject matter.
When two people have been together for a long, long time sometimes they cannot bear to be separated.
His heart was probably breaking into pieces and he also probably did not want his wife to continue to suffer ...
Not necessarily the best way to end it --- but totally and completely understand.
May they rest in peace through eternity together.
My condolences to the family...
Surely the police won't waste much time on this "investigation." These people clearly decided the time was right for both and took care of it. This was an act of love and compassion.
He loved her very much.
May they both rest in peace.
This is a sad tragedy that shouldn't have to happen. This country needs a humane euthanasia policy. Let people die with dignity. We treat our pets better at the end of life than we do our own parents.
I can understand why this happened. You live over 60 year...s most of your entire life with someone you love and the thought of living without them can be tough to deal with. Plus, not wanting to seea loved suffer. They are both in a better place, and together. God Bless them both.
We put terminally ill pets to sleep so they don't suffer, but we make people suffer till they die. Just something wrong with this.