Mark suffered from a seizure disorder for which he took medication. One day, Mark forgot to take his medicine. While driving with his wife Wendy, Mark felt a seizure coming on

Question

Mark pulled over and Wendy injected Mark with anti-seizure medicine. The medicine caused Mark to become suicidal. When Mark started to drive again he drove straight toward another car. The other driver-victim swerved to avoid a collision with Mark, but they both crashed and Mark and the other driver died at the scene. Wendy has been charged under the following statute:
"Anyone who purposely, knowingly, recklessly or negligently causes the death of another shall be guilty of a felony." Wendy said that she did not intend for anyone to get hurt when she lawfully injected Mark with the medicine. Will Wendy be found guilty under the statute for causing both deaths? Explain your answer fully.
What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER: Answers may vary: This question test the students' knowledge of the mens rea states and the elements of causation. Wendy did not purposely, with specific intent, cause the deaths. Wendy did not inject Mark knowing that the specific result of the crash and the ensuing deaths would occur. Whether or not Wendy was reckless or negligent in injecting Mark will depend on how often Mark forgot his medicine and whether or not Wendy was aware of the suicidal side effects and ignored those effects. Given that it is unlikely Wendy know of the extreme side effects, she was probably negligent but students must then engage in a causation analysis. "But for" Wendy injecting Mark with seizure medication, he would not have become suicidal and crashed. Wendy is the factual cause of the crash and the deaths. Is she the proximate cause? Is it foreseeable from Wendy's injecting the medicine into Mark that he would become suicidal and crash? The analysis has to focus on whether Mark's suicidal ideations were predictable or an intervening cause. Given that the reaction to the medication was so extreme, it is likely an intervening cause breaking the causal chain between Wendy's actions of injecting Mark and the ultimate death of Mark and the other driver. She would likely be found not guilty as she is not both the factual and proximate cause of the ultimate harm.