Doctors: Alleged Ohio mercy killer asked "please tell me she's dead"

John Wise seen in this photo provided by the Summit County Sheriff Department. / AP Photo/Summit County Sheriff Department

(CBS/AP) AKRON, Ohio - The man charged in the suspected mercy killing of his wife at an Ohio hospital asked the doctor who confronted him, "Please tell me she's dead," according to the doctor's account of what happened.

In his first interview about the shooting at Akron General Medical Center, Dr. Michael Passero said Monday that he repeatedly asked 66-year-old John Wise to give up his weapon after the shooting in an intensive-care unit.

The discussion was interrupted when the victim, 65-year-old Barbara Wise, gasped for air. The doctor says John Wise then said: "Oh, God, she's still alive. How can she still be alive?"

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Witnesses say Wise entered the hospital on Saturday with a concealed handgun. He made it to his wife's room, where he fired at least one round hitting her in the head.

During a 911 call obtained by CBS affiliate WOIO in Akron, Ohio, a nurse claims the medical staff thought the popping sound was an oxygen tank at first but when they saw Wise sitting in the room with a gun they realized what the it was.

He was charged with aggravated murder in the Aug. 4 shooting. His wife died one day later. A medical examiner determined that the woman's death was from the gunshot wound in the head, ruling it a homicide.

Terry Henderson, who worked at a northeast Ohio steel plant with Wise for three decades, said that Wise told him that his wife had had three aneurysms and was left unable to speak, and Wise didn't want her to suffer. He added that Wise told him he never wanted to be disabled in a nursing home and said his wife felt the same way.

"John Wise is no criminal. He did what he did out of love," Henderson said to the Associated Press.

[credibility2]

...sounds to me like he was just trying to get rid of his wife and not have to take care of her...if not being able to speak was the only side effect from her illnesses, that wasn't anything to kill her for...he's just a cold-blooded murderer...

[Teddie Seeley]

If the only problem that his wife had, was that she could not speak, there is therapy for that. If she was not in pain or on life support, Mr. Wise, may have been a little premature, in this "mercy killing".
I will just have to wait and see what the doctors have to say.

[vielmann]

I find this whole story to be disgusting along with the supporting comments. This man put the hospital in jeopardy. Oxygen tanks could have exploded and taken many lives. Bullets don't always hit their intended targets, and god knows how many innocent people get killed by stray bullets. Regardless, this not the way to handle anything. I can only imagine the trauma the hospital employees are going through. Another reason idiots shouldn't be allowed to have guns.

[jk12852002]

When we talk about our pets - our cats and dogs - we talk about "the humane thing." But we as a society outlaw humanity for humans. As Jaylah54200 said before me, I don't fear death. Death is logical culmination of life on this earth. But the thought of being a prisoner of my own body. That is frightening.

We can blather on all we want to about a "slippery slope," or "who gets to decide." But as for me, I hope and pray that if I ever end up in that position, I have a John Wise in my life who will do right by me - who will do the HUMANE thing for me.

[vielmann]

Hopefully your John Wise does it far away from a hospital scene where others may get innocently hurt.

[rwsmith29456]

I don't think this guy is a threat to society.

[Jaylah54200]

Another one in the "No good deed goes unpunished" file.

I think most people, particularly those with previous health problems, have probably had discussions about this with their loved ones. I know I have. I hate the fact that medicine can now basically keep us alive when we should have long since been dead.

I don't fear death. But I do fear being locked inside of my own mind. If I were to suffer another stroke, leaving me with no way to communicate, and it looked as if that was going to be a permanent condition next time, I would want somebody to do exactly that for me. Let me go.

[Solarrays247]

I agree. Compassion is the answer.