Laura, a 19-year-old woman, fell into a coma because of an overdose of drugs and alcohol. She was given emergency treatment at a hospital and was placed on a respirator, which stabilized her breathing. She remained in a deep coma, and when she was tested by neurologists and neuro-surgeons it was discovered that about 70 percent of her brain was irretrievably damaged. She was not brain dead, however: She reacted to pain, her eyes sometimes would open and her pupils contract, she would at times thrash about, and her EEG showed some brain activity. She was in a PVS. Because she could not be pronounced dead in any medical or legal sense, the hospital and doctors refused to take her off the respirator or to stop any other treatments they were giving her. At one point Laura's sister was alone in the room with her and, thinking that Laura wouldn't want to live on in this way, she disconnected the respirator and caused her sister's death.

• Under these circumstances, do you feel Laura's sister was justified in performing a mercy killing?
• Was this murder? Is murder morally wrong? Was Laura's sister morally wrong?