Brevard man charged with assisted suicide

An article on Fox news is reporting that a man in Florida has been charged with assisted suicide in the death of his wife. The facts of this case are not completely known, but the case appears to be one that does not actually fall within the regular pervue of the assisted suicide law.

If the current story is correct, the man did not intentionally aid or encourage or counsel her to commit suicide. The reality is that this report may be very different from the reality and it is important to wait and see. The police may have very different information than this report entails.

This is another tradgedy within a family dispute that ended with a terrible loss of life. We need to remember that as sad as these cases are, the assisted suicide laws are not restricted to cases where the person is terminally ill. The law applies to everyone.

The original article from (WOFL Fox 35) on September 15, 2009 stated:

A Brevard County man has been charged with assisted suicide after police say he helped his wife kill herself. Investigators say this is one of the more bizarre cases they've ever seen.

A 4-year-old child was left without his mom after she took her own life and now he could lose his father too. Kevin Ragan was arrested for helping his wife commit suicide.

In the frantic 911 call he told a dispatcher his 30-year-old wife was depressed and had been drinking. He says she threatened to kill herself and admits offering her some loaded guns.

Ragan on 911 Call: "I was being a smart a** and threw like three guns on the bed. I'm like, then do it. And, she just picked the 40 caliber hand gun up."

The rest of the 911 call on that sad day is too graphic to air, a distraught ragan crying and asking for an ambulance.

Deputies say Ragan and his wife were having marital problems and his wife was on anti-depressants. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Now more than three months later, after deputies got confirmation from the medical examiner that the death was in fact a suicide, they charged Ragan with assisting a suicide. He was arrested and bonded out.

No one was home on Monday when a FOX 35 crew went to the Ragan home but neighbors say they are stunned.

FOX 35 checked and found that Ragan has no criminal record.

Link to the article:
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/brevard_news/091409_assisted_suicide_charge