Posted on 06/23/2009 1:59:57 PM PDT by JoeProBono
As Denver's newsweekly Westword asked in a May 2009 story, "Where would you take a $100,000 check that is also a suicide note, to the cops or to the bank?" In July 2008, John Francis Beech, a retired executive in Denver, sent a check for $100,000 to a local charity, postdated to Aug. 1, accompanied by a sealed envelope reading "wait until you hear from coroner" and "everything is OK."
The charity's director, Annie Green, opened the envelope anyway on July 21, to find Beech's Last Will and Testament, leaving his entire estate to Green's organization for children with developmental disabilities. Green's choice: Put everything into the school's safe and await Aug. 1 (but she claimed to have left two voice-mail messages for Beech). On July 29, based on longstanding plans, Beech committed suicide.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Is the person a liberal?
Is the check good?
In Oregon it’s legal to commit suicide with the doctor’s help... :-)
—
It’s only a matter of time for the rest of the states, at the rate we’re going in this country...
Lolz to lor.
I personally would call for help, or attempt to talk to the individual. While I think people should be allowed to commit suicide so long as they have no debts and are mentally stable, I believe life to be inherently valuable and would at least try to talk the person out of it.
Share my testimony probably.
if # 2 is yes, # 3 is no
Post-dating a check is not legal, I’d rush over and demand they date it today, and file suit if they didn’t.
:)
The man was obviously not of sound mind.
“I thought he said ‘Wait until you hear from CROONER’”
Who wants to bet Annie Green’s a Democrat?
There will always be family and friends and others with financial incentives who will push for an early death.
It depends.
Is the person at risk of suicide a dem politician, a RINO, somebody living in the White House, a member of the State run media..... or is the person somebody whose life has value and contributes to the good of mankind?
Call the cops. I don’t need that kind of bad energy around me.
this is the Goal of socialized medicine, Kill off its cheaper than treating the illness!
Look at the waiting lists elsewhere why do you think they stall?
If an individual is aware that another intends to commit suicide, and does nothing to prevent it, then the suicides blood is on his/your hands.
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2009/06/judge_to_suicides_family_will.php
“”A Jefferson County judge threw out objections Friday afternoon to a suicide’s controversial will, ruling that the man’s estate must go to a prominent Denver charity — even though his family contends that the charity had prior notice of his suicide plans and failed to take action.
Laradon Hall, which provides services to the developmentally disabled, is the sole beneficiary of the estate of John Francis Beech, a retired Coors worker who secretly battled depression for years. Last July, Beech dropped off an envelope at Laradon that had the words WAIT UNTIL YOU HEAR FROM CORONER on the outside. The official who opened it found a check for $100,000, a copy of Beech’s will and instructions on dealing with his property. Beech took his own life on July 29.
“The Giveaway,” our feature on Beech’s death — and his family’s distress at Laradon’s failure to intervene — attracted national attention and scores of comments on digg.com, as well as the lead slot on News of the Weird.
After opening the package, Laradon Hall acting director Annie Green reportedly left two voicemail messages for Beech; he didn’t call back. Laradon’s attorneys insist Green had no knowledge of Beech’s suicide plans. But Susan Harris, attorney for Beech’s mother, Betty Malonson, contends that the charity shouldn’t profit from its inaction.
“When you have professionals who have access to psychiatrists and psychologists and deal regularly with the mentally ill, they have a higher duty,” she argued during the probate court hearing. “I don’t believe enabling suicide for profit is good public policy.”
But Probate Judge Stephen Munsinger rejected Harris’ argument. There was no evidence that Beech was mentally incompetent when he drafted the will, he noted. And while there’s laws on the books that prevent a beneficiary from murdering a person and collecting his estate, the law doesn’t cover a beneficiary who receives advance notice of suicide and then fails to contact the authorities.
“It’s inappropriate for this court to pass [judgment] on the ethics or morality of what Laradon should have done or didn’t do,” Munsinger said. “I don’t find that there was a legal obligation under the law to do more than they did... I have to honor the will.”
Several of Beech’s family members who attended the hearing later expressed disappointment in the ruling — but no shock that the standards of the law in a case like their brother’s death have little to do with ethics or morality. “”
I believe it is legal in Washington State also.
Longer article from May 13:
“Where would you take a $100,000 check that is also a suicide note - to the cops or to the bank?”
http://www.westword.com/2009-05-14/news/where-would-you-take-a-100-000-check-that-is-also-a-suicide-note-to-the-cops-or-to-the-bank/
“the law doesn’t cover a beneficiary who receives advance notice of suicide and then fails to contact the authorities.”- So There!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.