Doctor's drastic treatment kills his brother

A doctor who tried to stop his alcoholic brother from drinking by chaining him in his home has been charged with murder after the brother asphyxiated.

The brother was found in his basement with the chain wrapped around his neck, police said in Dearborn, Michigan.

Merle Rydesky, a retired hospital doctor, appeared in court yesterday charged with open murder and kidnapping, both of which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Prosecutors said Rydesky confined his 57-year-old brother James in the basement by wrapping a 30-foot chain around his neck.

“His brother, while certainly intoxicated, attempted to get out of the basement and either fell or became entangled and was asphyxiated,” Assistant Prosecutor Elizabeth Walker said during the hearing.

Defence lawyer David Cripps said the confinement was an attempt to keep the brother sober for five days so that he could be entered into a treatment programme. He added that the death might have been a suicide.

“My client has for 20-something years been trying to rehabilitate his brother,” Cripps said.