A disturbing case out of Florida highlights how the dangerous logic of “assisted suicide” can lead to tragedy. A 66-year-old daughter, Martha Jo Blake, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 97-year-old mother, Patricia Blake. Deputies found the elderly woman dead in her bed, and the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, citing injuries consistent with suffocation and strangulation, not natural causes.

The woman told police her mother “wanted to die” and had discussed assisted suicide with a physician in Maine.

As horrible as this story is, think of all the cases where there are no charges and no scandal because the killing is state sanctioned. Murder is never mercy, even if it is given a name like assisted suicide, medical aid in dying, or death with dignity.