Nurse encouraged suicides on internet

[noZme]

"MINNEAPOLIS - A nurse who authorities say got his kicks by visiting Internet suicide chat rooms and encouraging depressed people to kill themselves is under investigation in at least two deaths and could face criminal charges.

"Investigators said William Melchert-Dinkel, 47, feigned compassion for those he chatted with, while offering step-by-step instructions on how to take their lives."

This sicko bragged that his job as a nurse made him an expert on the most effective way to do it. He offered expert & techical advice & made suicide pacts with others he never intended to carry out himself. The Minnesota Board of Nursing has revoked his license.

This is a story to watch as it is unchartered territory. He can simply claim freedom of speech. Efforts to make it illegal to shout "Jump!" to someone on a bridge have not survived constitutional challenges.

"In obtaining the search warrant for Melchert-Dinkel's computer, Minnesota authorities cited a decades-old, rarely used state law that makes it a crime to encourage someone to commit suicide. The offense carries up to 15 years in prison.

"Task force spokesman Paul Schnell would not say when or if charges would be filed and stressed that the investigation is complicated because of the anonymity of Web chat rooms. He said the task force is also looking into whether Melchert-Dinkel was involved in other suicides."

Meanwhile he says "Nothing is going to come of it," (the allegations). "I've moved on with my life, and that's it."

What a jerk!!!!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33349974/ns/us_news/

 

[southcitymom]

That's very odd, NoZme.

I actually think assisted suicide is a good thing, but this person does not sound like he was out to offer any real loving assistance to anyone - just to stir up terrible trouble. Sad and strange - especially from a medical caregiver.

 

[Openmind]

That's very odd, NoZme.

I actually think assisted suicide is a good thing, but this person does not sound like he was out to offer any real loving assistance to anyone - just to stir up terrible trouble. Sad and strange - especially from a medical caregiver.

It is one thing to offer assistance to a terminally ill individual seeking an end to their pain and another to encourage depressed people on how to kill themselves. He may have "moved on" but the people that killed themselves under his consultation aren't going to get to "move on."

What gives with people being so narcissistic and evil? Thank goodness they pulled his nurse's license. I would not want him around me or my loved ones.

There never seems to be a bottom to how far people will go to abuse our precious freedoms -- child *advertiser censored*, vulgar language, aggressive disrespect, assisted suicide, etc.

 

[southcitymom]

I couldn't agree with you more, openmind.

 

[txsvicki]

I hope they also check out any suspicious deaths or suicides in patients that he took care of in real life.

 

[Snick1946]

I'd bet the producers of 'Law and Order' are taking notes on this one. Sounds like a great story line for one of their episodes. Sadly.

 

[fran]

Judgment near for man said to encourage suicides

The nearly three-year legal pursuit of Melchert-Dinkel moves closer to a conclusion Thursday, when a judge hears his request to waive his right to a jury trial. Melchert-Dinkel is still pleading not guilty, but he's not disputing the facts against him and will let a judge issue a verdict based on evidence in the court record.

........................................snip.....................................

Melchert-Dinkel, 48, of Faribault, faces two counts of aiding suicide, each carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Prosecutors say he encouraged two people to take their lives, including 18-year-old Kajouji, of Brampton, Ontario, who jumped into a river in 2008; and 32-year-old Mark Drybrough, of Coventry, England, who hung himself in 2005.

Prosecutors say Melchert-Dinkel was obsessed with suicide and hanging and sought out potential victims on the Internet. When he found them, prosecutors say, he posed in chat rooms and in e-mails as a woman, using names like "Li dao," "Cami," or "falcon girl." He feigned compassion and offered step-by-step instructions on how they could kill themselves.

Prosecutors say he acknowledged participating in online chats about suicide with up to 20 people and entering into fake suicide pacts with about 10 people, five of whom he believed killed themselves.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<more at link>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[Quiche]

Judgment near for man said to encourage suicides

The nearly three-year legal pursuit of Melchert-Dinkel moves closer to a conclusion Thursday, when a judge hears his request to waive his right to a jury trial. Melchert-Dinkel is still pleading not guilty, but he's not disputing the facts against him and will let a judge issue a verdict based on evidence in the court record.

........................................snip.....................................

Melchert-Dinkel, 48, of Faribault, faces two counts of aiding suicide, each carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Prosecutors say he encouraged two people to take their lives, including 18-year-old Kajouji, of Brampton, Ontario, who jumped into a river in 2008; and 32-year-old Mark Drybrough, of Coventry, England, who hung himself in 2005.

Prosecutors say Melchert-Dinkel was obsessed with suicide and hanging and sought out potential victims on the Internet. When he found them, prosecutors say, he posed in chat rooms and in e-mails as a woman, using names like "Li dao," "Cami," or "falcon girl." He feigned compassion and offered step-by-step instructions on how they could kill themselves.

Prosecutors say he acknowledged participating in online chats about suicide with up to 20 people and entering into fake suicide pacts with about 10 people, five of whom he believed killed themselves.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<more at link>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Link, please? :seeya:

 

[Quiche]

I found it--

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/suicide-nurse-ruling-feb-17-2011

 

[blue_the_puppy]

i remember watching this story on dateline over the summer. here is a link to the transcript if anyone is interested.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38739087/ns/dateline_nbc/

 

[Gozgals]

They need to check any pts. he worked with and do a hx of his past. . I believe in assisting those terminally ill but this nurse is just a killer. How very sad..He is pure evil. :banghead:

Goz

 

[tlcya]

I'd bet the producers of 'Law and Order' are taking notes on this one. Sounds like a great story line for one of their episodes. Sadly.

L & O did do an episode several years back about people in a suicide chat and a murder that was made to look like suicide because the perp had posed as his victim in this chat room. When the suicide pact went down, the victim was the only one involved who had no clue he was there to die.

 

[KarlK]

Melchert-Dinkel was found guilty, max sentence in Minnesota for this felony is 15 years.

http://www.globaltoronto.com/Former+nurse+guilty+aiding+suicide+Brampton+woman/4444041/story.html

 

[tapu]

as despicable as this man is, i have to disagree with the verdict.
in practical application, consider someone who goads another to commit murder. is the manipulator an accessory then? what if its to rob a bank? how about shoot an abortion clinic worker?

and in the larger sense, this is like the sweat lodge case. i would stand with personal responsibility rather than positing that someone has "magical persuasive powers" that override the will of another.

 

[Nova]

as despicable as this man is, i have to disagree with the verdict.
in practical application, consider someone who goads another to commit murder. is the manipulator an accessory then? what if its to rob a bank? how about shoot an abortion clinic worker?

and in the larger sense, this is like the sweat lodge case. i would stand with personal responsibility rather than positing that someone has "magical persuasive powers" that override the will of another.

Amen. The ethical lapse is clear. Criminal culpability is another matter entirely.

I'm embarrassed to admit there have been occasions when I was in a really rotten mood and started listing how crappy everything was. Finally, in exasperation, my wonderful, ever-loving husband snapped, "Well, if things are really THAT bad, why don't you just end it all!" (This was so out of character for him, let me say the fault was entirely mine; I really had worked his very last nerve. And of course I knew he wasn't serious.)

But what if I had killed myself in response? Would he have been criminally liable--even though 99.9% of the time he is the most supportive partner on the planet? I should hope not!

The truth is his snapping at me was like a slap in the face and actually helped me stop the cycle of negativity. But why should he be punished if I chose to do something stupid (and under the circumstances, unforgivably spiteful) in response?

 

[MistyM]

Amen. The ethical lapse is clear. Criminal culpability is another matter entirely.

I'm embarrassed to admit there have been occasions when I was in a really rotten mood and started listing how crappy everything was. Finally, in exasperation, my wonderful, ever-loving husband snapped, "Well, if things are really THAT bad, why don't you just end it all!" (This was so out of character for him, let me say the fault was entirely mine; I really had worked his very last nerve. And of course I knew he wasn't serious.)

But what if I had killed myself in response? Would he have been criminally liable--even though 99.9% of the time he is the most supportive partner on the planet? I should hope not!

The truth is his snapping at me was like a slap in the face and actually helped me stop the cycle of negativity. But why should he be punished if I chose to do something stupid (and under the circumstances, unforgivably spiteful) in response?

i dont think he would be punished at all. did he seek out when you were severely depressed looking for a possible solution other than suicide then while you were upset he said yeah why don't you do it!

the difference is this guy LOOKED for people in chatrooms/forums specifically to encourage to kill themselves and i would DEFINITELY be looking into his nursing career to see if he decided mercy killings was another route to get off on his god complex fantasies.

 

[mysteriew]

If this guy was talking to someone who wanted to blow up a bank or school or something, but didn't know how to build a bomb. And this guy gave him instructions in bomb building and encouragement in building the bomb would you feel he was criminally culpable then?

That's the way I see this. He went to chat rooms for suicidal people. People who most likely in some ways were looking for someone, anyone to talk them out of it or provide some encouragement or something. Otherwise they wouldn't be there, they would be standing on a bridge.

And he not only went to the chatroom, he encouraged them to commit the act and provided them with technical medial info to aid them in their suicide.

To me it is the same thing.

 

[Nova]

Good points, MistyM and mysteriew! I'm sure an appellate court will have to deal with both of them.