Vehicular Manslaughter

Hollywood FLA-

Dr. Mary Congdon, known to millions as
the infamous "vehicular manslaughter doctor,"
participated in her 23rd doctor-assisted vehicular
manslaughter Monday, running over an 81-year-old
Connecticut woman.

Congdon, who was arrested and charged with first-degree
vehicular manslaughter in the incident, hit Mildred
Peters of South Windsor,CT with her 1985 Ford F-250
Pickup in a supermarket parking lot, killing her
instantly.

"She was clearly in terrible pain," said Congdon, who
did not know the woman. "She was moving very slowly,
and it was a struggle for her just to push the
shopping cart to her car. I don't even think she would
have been able to lift her groceries into the trunk
without help. All this woman wanted was to die in a dignified, painless manner. Thank God I was able to give her that chance."

According to witnesses, after saying a prayer and
lighting a candle, Congdon got in her truck and
accelerated to an estimated 80 mph, hitting Peters
head-on with the controversial four-wheeled
euthanizing device.

Congdon's lawyer, Ima Scumbag, defended his client in a
statement Tuesday. "Dr. Congdon's only interest is in
easing the terrible pain of the nation's elderly,"Scumbag said. "It is her deep conviction that no one
should have to suffer through life with Multiple
Sclerosis, arthritis, or high blood pressure."
When informed of the incident, Peters' daughter
expressed relief that the woman's suffering had
finally ended.

"It had been years since my mother was able to live a
normal life," said Jayne Peters-Williams, 48. "She was
so weak, she couldn't climb long flights of stairs.
She needed help getting in the tub. And if she just
wanted to read, she had to put on a special pair of
glasses. What kind of a life is that?"

"My mother's suffering is over at last,"
Peters-Williams said. "As her crumbling, withered body
soared through the air after being hit by Congdon, for
one shining moment she was finally free."

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal
ban on physician-assisted vehicular manslaughter
without patient consent. Michigan is one of just five
states that permit assisted vehicular manslaughter
with consent of a family member.

The nation's leading ethicists are divided on the
issue of automotive euthanasia. While some, such as
Hemlock Society president Milton Habisch, call it a
"clean, effective" way to end the agony of chronic
pain sufferers; others assert it creates more problems
than it solves.

"The procedure is far from perfect," said Chrissy
Wood, co-director of the Hollywood, FL-based What
About The Children? foundation. "In 1991, her car ran
out of gas just before he was about to hit a Goshen,
IN, woman suffering from back pain, and she was forced
to borrow the bicycle of a nearby child, riding over
her victim an agonizing 175 times until the child finally
died of internal bruising."

Dr. Congdon's controversial suicide device is controlled
by two foot-activated levers, one for acceleration and
one for braking. By pressing down hard on the
acceleration lever, the machine increases in velocity
to the point where anyone it is aimed at can be killed
quickly and painlessly. As an added precaution, Congdon
anaesthetizes herself with a fifth of Captain Morgan's
before each procedure.

Congdon has used the machine in the doctor-assisted
vehicular manslaughter of 17 elderly people since
1994. Prior to that, she used a similar device, known
as a "1994 Chevrolet Blazer," in the deaths of six
others. The Blazer device was scrapped after repeated
technical problems, including a broken fuel line.