This week’s episode of NBC’s Law & Order offered a sympathetic portrayal of a woman who kills her father with dementia.
The episode, “The Hardest Thing,” on Thursday begins with an old man peacefully listening to the music of Handel. Someone with a pistol walks slowly up the stairs to his room and then shoots him in the back of the head. The incident is made to look like a robbery.
It turns out that the murderer is the elderly man’s daughter, Victoria Beyer (Katie Lowes). According to her, she did it at his request because he had been diagnosed with dementia. His physician testifies on her behalf.
Defense Attorney: What was his condition by the time of his death?
Physician: He came to see me a few weeks before he died. He reported that his episodes had gotten more pronounced, that it had progressed beyond a point that he was comfortable…
