A decision by a woman to die by having her life-support machine turned off may result in her mother being charged with murder. The woman died last night shortly after the machine was turned off.
This bizarre situation has arisen following the decision by a Florida court to allow a paralysed Ms Georgette Smith (42) have her ventilator removed. She has been living by means of the ventilator since she was shot, allegedly by her mother, Ms Shirley Egan (68), over two months ago.
Ms Smith has successfully petitioned a court to make the Lucerne Medical Centre turn off her ventilator. Ms Smith, who can speak only with great difficulty, said: "All I can do is wink my eyes and wiggle my nose, wiggle my tongue. I can't move any other part of my body. I can't live like this."
Ms Smith's two daughters supported her decision. Doctors called her paralysed condition irreversible. Prosecutors said earlier that if Ms Smith died, her mother could be charged with murder, instead of attempted murder.
The prosecutors say Ms Smith was shot in a family apartment on March 8th when she, her boyfriend and her mother were discussing placing Ms Egan in a nursing home. Ms Egan had recently been injured in a car accident and was in a wheelchair.
Ms Egan shot her daughter in the neck, severing her spine. She also shot at and missed the boyfriend, the police say. Judge Richard Conrad granted Ms Smith her request to have her life-support machine turned off yesterday.
If Ms Egan is charged with murder, her lawyers are expected to contest that she is not responsible for her daughter's death as she was not the immediate cause.