Son Charged in Forced Death of Father

MARTINEZ, Calif. —  A man who used a gun to force a nurse to shut off his 69-year-old father’s life-support system has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death, authorities said Wednesday.

Edward T. Baker’s father “had a reasonable and significant chance of recovery” from cancer of the esophagus before Baker forced the removal of a respirator that was helping the older man breathe, said Contra Costa County Dist. Atty. Gary T. Yancey.

Baker, 37, is free on $10,000 bail and will be arraigned on the new charge Tuesday, Yancey said.

Police said Baker entered Brookside Hospital in San Pablo on Dec. 21 and took the nurse hostage while ordering a second nurse to disconnect the respirator and let his father “die with dignity.” Police said Edward C. Baker died within minutes.

The decision to charge Baker with voluntary manslaughter came after a monthlong review of applicable laws and the elder Baker’s medical condition before his death, Yancey said.

The district attorney said doctors gave the elder Baker “a fighting chance to recover. His son essentially robbed him of the fighting chance to live.”

Police reports had said the younger Baker claimed to have promised his father that he would not allow him to be kept alive by machines. But Yancey said the use of the respirator was normal after many types of surgery. “No extraordinary medical procedures were being used at all,” he said.