In a case that echoes Terri Schiavo's, a comatose Australian woman's recent death following the removal of her feeding tube put the focus on her husband for her injuries – now the husband, on the eve of being charged with her murder, has taken his own life.
Maria Korp, 50, died on August 5 following the July 27 removal of her feeding tube. Mrs. Korp had been diagnosed in a vegetative state for nearly six months following a February attack in her garage where she was choked and left for dead in a car trunk by her husband's lover, Tania Herman.
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Herman pleaded guilty to attempted murder and received a nine-year sentence in exchange for testimony implicating Joe Korp, the murdered woman's husband. According to Herman, Korp, whom she had met in an Internet chatroom, coerced her into committing the crime. Joe Korp denied any involvement in the attack on his wife.
Korp was found, today, hanging in the same garage where his wife was strangled.
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In April, doctors first suggested removing Mrs. Korp's feeding tube, saying treatment had been futile. Mr. Korp expressed his opposition and attempted to have his sister-in-law appointed as his wife's guardian since he, as a suspect in her injury, could not exercise those duties. The court, instead, appointed a public advocate as guardian.
Despite the fact Mrs. Korp had left no living will and the mother of two was a practicing Catholic, the court-appointed guardian announced his decision to deny her nutrition and hydration on July 26.
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"The artificial feeding that has been provided to Mrs. Korp through a PEG-tube is no longer sustaining her life, but rather is prolonging her dying," Julian Gardiner said in a statement. "The clinical advice is that continuing her treatment is futile and unduly burdensome for her. I accept and agree that the decision to cease the provision of artificial nutrition is in Mrs. Korp's best interests."
Korp's opposition to removing his wife's feeding tube was widely credited to his own self-interest – her death meant the charge against him of attempted murder could be upgraded to murder. But, according to the Sydney Sunday Telegraph, Korp came to support the public advocate's decision to stop feeding his wife, though not without a private struggle.
In a diary, recovered by police Korp wrote "Julian Gardner ... is killing my wife off. They are putting her back in the boot of the car."
Australian opinion on Korp's suicide is split between those who see him as a man guilt-ridden over killing his wife and those who see an innocent man hounded to the point of despair.
Korp told the Melbourne Herald-Sun, in an interview hours before his death, he regretted his liaisons with Herman and expressed his outrage at her short sentence for killing his wife. He also expressed his belief that he would one day be reunited with his wife and reiterated his innocence.
