A 76-year-old Florida woman has been arrested after she reportedly shot her 77-year-old husband in the head earlier this week. Now the story is going viral, and sparking the longtime debate on euthanasia and mercy killings in a country that mostly shuns assisted-suicide. The woman is expected to be charged with first-degree murder, but is that fair?
Fox 59 News reports that the incident was a result of mutual planning between the Florida woman and her ailing husband. Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young explained the situation in a statement to media reporters:
“Apparently because he was terminally ill, they had a conversation about it and they actually planned this approximately three weeks ago, that if he continued to take a turn for the worst, he wanted her to end this. Apparently the goal was for him to do it, but he didn’t have the strength, so she had to carry it out for him.”
After the elderly Florida woman killed her husband, she reportedly barricaded herself in the hospital, which led to a temporary standoff of sorts. Ultimately, she was successfully arrested after authorities used a flash bang to disorient her. She was taken into custody without putting up a fight at this point.
After the arrest of the woman made headlines, an immediate debate ensued across the internet. Is it ethical to put a loved one out of their misery, when you know that it’s something they want? There are no legally recognized forms of euthanasia in the state of Florida, so the elderly couple in this case had no legal recourse, even though both the husband and wife mutually agreed to the deadly arrangement. If the Florida woman and her husband had lived in Washington state, Oregon, California, Vermont of Maine — among a few other states — then they might not have had to go this far. They would have been able to seek end-of-life care if it was necessary.
Chelsea Hoffman is a true crime writer with over a decade of professional writing experience. She is best known for her coverage of missing people including the tragic disappearance of Madeleine McCann as well as the heartbreaking cases of Dylan Redwine, Heather Elvis and many others.
