Andrea Yates verdict - huh?

[Doc]

How about this, Lissa? Get a second opinion from another Doctor. They don't all agree on a great deal. As to post partum depression . . . is this a recent phenomenon, brought about by the self fulfilling prophecies of psychiatrists to up their case load and income, or was it a typical response of women over many millenia to now and again drown a new born baby? It would seem to me, under the Darwinian model, to be a self defeating trait or habit, and one rather easily bred out in two ways:

1. Most babies of such ladies dying, and so the recessive or dominant gene not getting passed on
2. Killed by clan/tribe/family group for killing a baby, a rational response by clan/tribe/family group, given the biological survival imperative to keep the clan a going concern.

So, I offer item

6) Get a large wood chipper, and feed Andrea Yates into it.

I don't care what the excuse is for her behaviour -- "the Demons made me do it" seems to have prevailed at the moment -- drowning your own five children goes beyond the pale by any standard.

Pete mentioned euthanasia. That is a far kinder method than the one I suggested, so I'll come halfway and accept that as a good enough solution. But since it is rational, and the workings of our legal system are based on manipulating the emotions of a jury, it has no chance to be implemented.

Occhi

Sailor, I like the cut of your jib.

But a woodchipper? That is going a bit far. Something like that should be saved for special cases.