It is extremely rare for someone to survive a bullet in the head

Michael Moylan was admitted to hospital in Florida on Wednesday complaining of severe head pain. His wife April fled when a bullet was discovered.

She was subsequently arrested for illegal possession of a firearm.

Moylan, a convicted felon, later told police she had accidentally shot her husband as he slept when she drew a gun kept under her pillow.

She fired the weapon by mistake after being woken up by a burglar alarm in the early hours of Wednesday morning, reports quoted Moylan as saying.

Her previous conviction for cocaine dealing disqualifies her from owning a firearm in the United States.

Mr Moylan, meanwhile, remains in hospital in a stable condition.

A spokesman for the local sheriff told the BBC a decision had yet to be made on whether to charge Mr Moylan, who is also a convicted felon.

The sheriff's spokesman said it was "logistically not a useful thing" to arrest Mr Moylan at this stage.

If arrested, he said, Mr Moylan would have to appear in court within 21 days and the sheriff's office would have to pay any of his outstanding medical bills.

"There is no reason for the public to have to pay for this crime," he said.

Conflicting accounts

Mr Moylan arrived at a Florida hospital on Wednesday, saying he was woken up with a headache so severe he thought he had suffered an aneurysm.

He also reportedly told doctors he thought his wife had elbowed him in the head during the night.

A local newspaper, The Fort Pierce Tribune, quoted the sheriff as saying: "The nurse looked at him and said: 'It appears that you've been shot.' And he said: 'No way.'"

A police search of the couple's house uncovered a gun and blood-stained rags.