Love and Despair

"She never wanted to outlive me and be left at the mercy of someone else. We loved each other so much. It was a wonderful life in spite of all the hard things we had at the end."
"We did a lot of things together, always loved each other. I took care of her through that (health deterioration) day and night."
"It was just the last straw She didn't want to go to that hospital ... start cutting her toes off. I said, 'I can't do it, honey'. She says, 'Yes you can.'"
"She says, 'Is this going to hurt', and I said, 'You won't feel a thing'."
"She was saying, 'Do it. Do it. Do it.' And I just let it go."
George Sanders, 86

George Sanders' 81-year-old wife Virgina Sanders didn't die immediately, as he promised her she would. He loved her, she begged to be put out of her misery and he found himself incapable of denying her that one last wish. She had been diagnosed with gangrene, had been suffering with multiple sclerosis since 1969. He had been carefully, lovingly, looking after her needs for all those years.

He confessed to shooting her. He sat in a police station in Phoenix, wrapped in a blanket. He sat there for about five hours. His wife was hospitalized. After shooting her with his revolver, wrapping a towel around it, he hadn't managed to kill her outright. She died a few days later.

"Virginia was at this present moment currently still alive but not expected to make it. She's not expected to live", he was told by the detective.

"I think of her laying in her bed and it haunts me. I've taken care of her all these years and to think of somebody else doing it that really doesn't care. Terrible. I sit here and I don't know how I could have done that. It seemed to make sense at the time."

Soon, a deputy entered the room where the elderly man sat, distraught, in pain and suffering. He was handcuffed, led out the door to be fingerprinted.