Sarah Kershaw, Former Times Reporter, Dies at 49
Sarah Kershaw, a former reporter for The New York Times who covered real estate, the Pacific Northwest and New York City schools, died on Monday at her home in Sosúa, a beach town in the Dominican Republic. She was 49.
She was found with a plastic bag tied over her head and pill bottles beside her, said Osvaldo Bonilla, a prosecutor for the province of Puerto Plata, who is investigating her death.
Officials are awaiting the results of toxicology tests before determining the cause of death, but Ms. Kershaw told friends that she planned to end her life because she suffered from a debilitating illness, Mr. Bonilla said. Contrary to an initial report released by the Dominican National Police, Ms. Kershaw was not strangled, he said.
Her husband, William Paul Norton, was held for questioning but was released without charges.
Ms. Kershaw joined The Times in 1995 as a news clerk, writing articles about New York City schools and New Jersey on a freelance basis, before leaving for Newsday. She returned to The Times in 2000 and covered local news until her promotion to bureau chief in Seattle. She later wrote for the Styles and Real Estate sections.
Before joining The Times, she worked at The Oakland Tribune and for news outlets in Venezuela.
Ms. Kershaw was known for her ability to spot trends and produce quirky feature articles. She wrote about an enclave for older lesbians in Alabama and teenage bulimic alcoholics who suffered from what therapists called “drunkorexia.” An article about a treadmill being built for a lonely elephant in Alaska was a personal favorite.
“We called it the ‘Kershaw Inquisition,’ ” said her sister, Amy A. Kershaw. “When she met new people or encountered a new topic, she explored both with enthusiasm, genuine curiosity and zeal.”
Sarah Stratton Kershaw was born on Jan. 12, 1967, in Princeton, N.J., to David Kershaw and Nancy L. Goldner. When her parents’ marriage ended, she lived with her mother and sister in Brooklyn, London and Brookline, Mass., before returning to Princeton.
She graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she worked at the college paper, The Daily Cardinal, and met Mr. Norton, whom she married much later. Her previous marriage ended in divorce.
Ms. Kershaw received a master’s degree from Columbia University.
In recent years, Ms. Kershaw experienced chronic pain from occipital neuralgia, a neurological condition, and moved to the Caribbean in 2014 to focus on her health and freelance journalism, her family said.
Besides her husband and her sister, she is survived by her mother.
Filed under: General Problems
All in the name of public safety…the practice of medicine and the other allied professions are hogtied. Somehow, “Do No Harm” has become “Take No Risks”. Now I realize that I’m shooting from the hip here, as I know next to nothing about the deceased or the personal particulars of her illness, what she tried, what she hadn’t tried, etc. I have to wonder if there was some reasonably risky modality of treatment that she was aware of, but her physician would not entertain helping her because it would put his license and, possibly his freedom, at risk. As far as I’m concerned, if one is desperate and there is a formal informed consent given by that person to their physician, or any healthcare provider, then the treating provider should be indemnified against any civil, administrative or criminal liability.
I realize that this is rather broad brush and I realize that there is a chorus waiting in the wings to start throwing out “what ifs”. My point here is to present a general concept and not a well engineered procedure. If one is desperate to the point of ending their own life to escape the debilitating effects of a disease, then why should the hands of the people charged with caring for the sick be tied in a way that prevents them from ranging outside the boundaries of what the State considers to be “Good Practice Standards”? Truthfully is that term, that idea, even well defined…or is it the Administrative catch-all accusation (akin to the “poor record keeping accusation), much like the law enforcer’s blanket “Obstruction” charge that is used against one of us mere mundanes when we are guilty of no more than “contempt of cop” for standing up for ourselves and our Constitutionally guaranteed rights in the face of a badged bully?
Our doctors and the government are killing us!