The Nation - News from May 14, 1989

The father who disconnected his comatose 15-month-old son from a life-support system at gunpoint last month in a Chicago hospital must be prosecuted, said Cook County State’s Atty. Cecil Partee. “We have to bring a charge when someone takes someone’s life,” Partee said during the taping of a radio show. Partee said that once the prosecution of Rudolfo Linares, 23, is settled, he will convene a meeting of legal, medical and religious experts to discuss the moral issues of mercy killing and possible methods of dealing with such complex issues. But, Partee said, no matter what the results of the unusual meeting, Linares must be judged by existing law. Preliminary charges of murder had been filed against Linares, and a grand jury was weighing whether a formal indictment should be returned.