She Eased Mom’s Dying Moments, Was Charged With Murder

In July 2023, Rachel Waters received a devastating phone call informing her that her mother was close to death. What happened afterward turned her grief into a legal nightmare. According to a detailed report by Madeleine Aggeler in the Guardian, the New York writer rushed to the memory care facility in Evans, Georgia, where her mother, 74-year-old Marsha Foster, was living.

Foster had been suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s disease and multiple myeloma, illnesses that had severely weakened her. When Waters arrived, she believed her mother was in significant pain. She says the facility’s staff would not administer morphine, prompting her to contact a hospice emergency hotline for guidance.

Waters explained the situation to the hotline and says she was told she could give her mother a small dose of liquid morphine from a comfort-care kit that had been provided when Foster entered hospice the previous year. Following those instructions, Waters applied a one-milliliter dose of the medication to her mother’s lips. Foster died minutes later.

An autopsy later determined the cause of death to be “acute morphine toxicity.” After an investigation that lasted about 18 months, authorities charged Waters with felony murder and malice murder—serious accusations that could have exposed her to the death penalty.

Aggeler’s reporting also details the earlier conflicts between Waters and employees at Marshall Pines Assisted Living and Memory Care, as well as the involvement of a prominent Georgia attorney—known for representing high-profile clients such as Sean “Diddy” Combs—who agreed to defend her.

During the case, the defense team gathered evidence and submitted it to the medical examiner at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The examiner revised the official cause of death to “undetermined.” With that change, prosecutors ultimately dropped the charges.

By the time the case was dismissed, Waters said the ordeal had already taken a heavy toll on her finances, career, and personal relationships. In response to her experience, she is now advocating for new legislation, which she calls “Marsha’s Law,” aimed at protecting caregivers from facing criminal charges in similar end-of-life situations.

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