If you have doubts about whether elder abuse might lead to requests for assisted suicide and euthanasia, consult the ever-entertaining website Law & Crime.

One case late last year featured the toxic relationship between a 44-year-old Oklahoma woman and her demented 72-year-old mother. Lynda Watts committed suicide on September 10, but police have charged Jaye Dee Watts with felony murder by caretaker abuse and kidnapping.

If Jaye Dee had turned off the security camera, perhaps this drama would have gone unnoticed. According to media reports, she called her mother a toddler and said, “take your pill or choke on it and die.” The conversation went on: “Oh, I’m raising a 72-year-old toddler. I can talk to you however I f—— want to.”

At one point she also took a drill and told her mother that she was going to lock her in the bedroom.

Then she left the bedroom and returned with a handgun. She showed her mother how to remove the gun from the holster. “Do with it what you f—— will, b—-,” she allegedly said. A few moments later Lynda fired two shots, killing herself.

Ms Watts allegedly told police: “it sucks being a 24/7 caregiver.”

Legal commentator Jonathan Turley noted that: “Watts could claim a type of mental duress, though this would seem to fall short of an insanity defense standard. Since this is a suicide, she will likely insist that it was her mother’s decision and action. However, giving a gun to an elderly person with dementia and then threatening that person would seem a strong basis for prosecution.”