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Florida Man Says He Killed Sick Wife Because He Couldn’t Afford Her Medicine

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Dalek

Member
Florida Man Says He Killed Sick Wife Because He Couldn’t Afford Her Medicine, Sheriffs Say

20XP_HAGER-master768.jpg

William J. Hager, 86, said he had run out of options.

His wife, Carolyn Hager, 78, had been ill for the last 15 of the more than 50 years they were married. The cost of her medications had become so burdensome that they could no longer afford it, he said. So on Monday morning while she was sleeping, he told the deputy who came to their Florida home, he shot her in the head.

The killing in Port St. Lucie and Mr. Hager’s explanation were detailed in an arrest affidavit and by local news media reports.

The case appeared to highlight the difficulties faced by older people who are on fixed incomes and are responsible for paying for their medicine when they are ill or in pain.

At the sheriff’s office, Mr. Hager told deputies that his wife had a “lot of illnesses and other ailments which required numerous medications,” which he “could no longer afford,” the affidavit said.

According to a study by the AARP, an advocacy group for people over 50, specialty drugs that treat complex, chronic conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis come with huge price tags.

Deputies said that Ms. Hager had severe arthritis and other health issues, but they declined to name the drugs she needed, citing privacy laws, according to WPTV, a TV station in West Palm Beach. Records show the Hagers filed for bankruptcy in 2011, and Mr. Hager worked at Sears for a short time to try to pay for the medication, the station said.

Mr. Hager said he had killed her at 7:30 a.m. while she was asleep, according to the affidavit. He placed the gun, a Colt .32 revolver, on a dresser, went into the kitchen of their home and drank coffee. He then called his daughters to tell them what he had done before calling 911 in the afternoon.

The couple had been married for more than 50 years, local news organizations said. It was not immediately clear if they had Medicare or any other insurance.

Mr. Hager was arrested on a charge of first-degree premeditated murder. He appeared before a circuit court judge by video from jail, but had not yet been entered a formal plea or been assigned a public defender, said Kara Odom, a court administrator.
 

mackattk

Member
That is pretty sad. I can kind of understand it if she was a lot of pain and there was no way to get the meds she needed. It is just crazy we live in a society where something like this is even possible to happen.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Maybe it's just me, but shooting your spouse in the head seems like a rather unfriendly way to kill someone you love.
 

mackattk

Member
Maybe it's just me, but shooting your spouse in the head seems like a rather unfriendly way to kill someone you love.

If I were to go, doing it in my sleep instantly without any conscious, pain or suffering would be my preferable way.
 

smurfx

get some go again
think i'll let the police investigate before i start giving this guy some sympathy. plus i want to know if he even tried to get all the help he could before killing his wife.
 

ApharmdX

Banned
What an unbelievably sad story. And it's not that uncommon; there was a case there in my state this year which had similar factors. But hey, tell me more about how universal health care is a socialistic pipe dream.
 

daveo42

Banned
Umm, like, I feel for him if this is true but you can't go around doing that.

I don't agree with it coming to that, but not being able to pay for medical care and medication is death sentence and euthanasia isn't legal in Florida. It's just a really sad reality for some people.

No Medicare?
Why?

Rheumatoid arthritis can be very debilitating and expensive. There's a woman who get's injections for hers that cost about $4500 per visit. She gets them every 8 weeks. Not sure how much medicare covers if it does at all, but shit gets expensive fast.
 

smurfx

get some go again
What an unbelievably sad story. And it's not that uncommon; there was a case there in my state this year which had similar factors. But hey, tell me more about how universal health care is a socialistic pipe dream.
we can't even get obamacare implemented in all 50 states and you think universal healthcare is feasible at this moment?
 

fauxtrot

Banned
Nothing to see here people! Just move along and keep pretending that our medical situation in this country is perfectly fine and those that have issues with are just lazy scam artists that want free stuff!

No Medicare?
Why?

Medicare won't pay for all of your prescriptions, especially the pricier ones.

edit: I am NOT defending this dude or his actions! I am just sympathic to the fact that there are people out there that are struggling this much to even consider something similar.
 
I don't agree with it coming to that, but not being able to pay for medical care and medication is death sentence and euthanasia isn't legal in Florida. It's just a really sad reality for some people.

I just mean that it creates the situation where we don't really know for sure if this woman wanted to die, or if he took it upon himself to decide that for her, or worse, killed her for other reasons and is using sympathy as a front. Not sure it leaves prosecutors with any choice but to treat him as a murderer. Does the article mention if she at least left behind a note or something?
 
This is the reality conservatives want to defend. Rather this than endorse anything vaguely resembling a socialist concept like the NHS.
 

fauxtrot

Banned
I just mean that it creates the situation where we don't really know for sure if this woman wanted to die, or if he took it upon himself to decide that for her, or worse, killed her for other reasons and is using sympathy as a front. Not sure it leaves prosecutors with any choice but to treat him as a murderer. Does the article mention if she at least left behind a note or something?

Definitely sounds like this dude took actions into his own hands and she wasn't complicit. Extremely fucked up and sad, and obviously the dude is either under extreme stress or is (more likely) not mentally sound.
 

daveo42

Banned
I just mean that it creates the situation where we don't really know for sure if this woman wanted to die, or if he took it upon himself to decide that for her, or worse, killed her for other reasons and is using sympathy as a front. Not sure it leaves prosecutors with any choice but to treat him as a murderer. Does the article mention if she at least left behind a note or something?

Article doesn't mention it so at this time we don't know. If he took it in his own hands without her input, then I definitely feel way less sympathy for him but still saddened that the medical burden of his wife's aliments pushed him in that direction.
 
As a Brit I think thank goodness for the NHS. Even with its problems it's nothing like this.

However I am not sure we need the Florida man concept added to this rather sad and depressing story.

A man killed his wife because hospital bills are a fix and rigged is more appropriate I think
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Maybe it's just me, but shooting your spouse in the head seems like a rather unfriendly way to kill someone you love.

It's violent, certainly. But she died instantly, in her sleep. I'm not sure there is a way to kill someone in a way that not "unfriendly", if it's not their wish. But it was...humane? I'm not sure if that's the right word given the circumstance.

This is a heartbreaking story. The bankruptcy filing, the 80 year old man working at Sears to try and pay for over priced medication for his wife of nearly 50 years (at that time). The slow decent into desperation, defeat, and ultimately, premeditated murder. Goddamn. :(

Article doesn't mention it so at this time we don't know. If he took it in his own hands without her input, then I definitely feel way less sympathy for him but still saddened that the medical burden of his wife's aliments pushed him in that direction.

From the lack of mention, the method used, and the overall framing of the story, it doesn't sound like it was with her content. No note from the wife, he does not appear to mention it as the reason, and he shot her in her sleep.
 

ApharmdX

Banned
we can't even get obamacare implemented in all 50 states and you think universal healthcare is feasible at this moment?

It may not be feasible but we desperately need it. It'll take another generation of "better-dead-than-red" old people to die but we will have universal health care. In the meantime, how many of these horror stories with the American health care system will we suffer, how much death, how many bankruptcies? It's disgusting.
 

Koyuga

Member
Absolutely heartbreaking that this is the world we live in, that this even seems like an option to some people.
 
You know, I was very sympathetic.. but not only did he shoot her, which seems so incredibly cold... but I'm wondering if the wife even agreed to this?
 

Hale-XF11

Member
As the wealth disparity continues to increase in this country, I will not be the least surprised if we hear more stories like this.
 

Pizoxuat

Junior Member
It churns my guts when someone kills their family and all the sympathy goes to the murderer. This happens a lot with older or disabled family members, and my reaction is sadness at their vulnerability. Needing care, even extraordinary care, shouldn't be a death sentence.
 

Foffy

Banned
I have empathy to this story, at least according to what's been articulated so far.

How would one handle the suffering of another person when society quite literally fails you to help them in any meaningful way? How do you alleviate suffering when your attempt at alleviating it is futile? I know if I was in that situation as the illed woman, I would have asked to be euthanized, legally or not. There's no helpful out other than opting out, and that should speak consistently to the problems of American health "care", for you can make a list where opting out is better than trying to assimilate to a shitty, overpriced, unfair, unegalitarian, and greedy framework.

If health care is about empathy and trying to alleviate the pain of people we coexist with, America has failed this, and any argument otherwise is apologetics in today's climate. There's no way to spin this, other than admitting it's a failure of a system, and going into detail where it's rotten and needs to be burned to ashes. When people have to crowdfund campaign their illnesses or kill their loved ones, only sadists can justify the system that produces these responses.
 

Hazmat

Member
Very sad. I've wondered recently how often someone puts a pillow over the face of a sleeping older, sick relative that the family just can't take care of. Someone sickly in their late 80s dies in their sleep, who really questions it?
 
poor guy. that had to have been the hardest thing hes ever done or even thought about doing.

i wonder if the wife gave the a-okay prior
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
When people are put into impossible situations, there's no way out except by transgressing the boundaries of the same society that allowed the no-win circumstance to arise in the first place.
 
An inordinate amount of money is spent by families in the last year's of life disproportionately in the last 30 days or so. It's extremely sad and nobody should be put out to pasture in that way, certainly not without consent in what potential equates to a blatant murder. But basically I'd want to option to kill myself at that point in my life. On my own terms (Not saying she did). But I think it's a discussion that needs to be had. If my medical bills are wracking up to the point I'll pass on nothing to my family and they are foolishly throwing money at a really non fixable problem then I'd want to pass away while I could give them more.
 
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