Woman charged after mom’s life support is briefly turned off

GLADWIN, Mich. – A woman has been charged with attempted murder after telling police that she cut tubes and turned off her mother’s ventilator at a Michigan medical facility because she couldn’t watch her “in all the pain,” a news organization reported.

The 78-year-old woman survived. The ventilator started beeping, and staff at Gladwin Pines Nursing & Rehabilitation turned it back on after approximately 60 seconds, MLive.com reported, citing the police report.

The incident occurred Feb. 1 in northern Michigan. The daughter, Corrine Damm, called Gladwin police to report what happened.

“Corinne advised her mother said she can’t do this anymore and that she wanted to die,” according to a subsequent interview with police. “Corinne advised it wasn’t like she was trying to plan a mercy killing, she just could not watch her mother in all the pain.”

Damm, 59, is free on bond. A message seeking comment was left for her attorney Wednesday.

Damm told police that her mother lived at home until March 2019 and has since been in different medical facilities since that time, MLive.com reported.