According to a report in the New York Post, Martin's young medical student will be shot and killed by a crazed patient in an episode airing in March.
"It's pretty brutal," an unnamed "insider" tells the Post. "There's a scene in which Lucy and Dr. Carter are shot. It's pretty bloody. She dies in his arms but he survives."
Other accounts say that the two will be stabbed.
In Hollywood, it's pretty much assured that, with the exception of, say, Dallas' back-from-the-dead Bobby Ewing, deceased characters don't make a comeback. That means that, unlike George Clooney, who is rumored to be making a comeback for Julianna Margulies' season-ending departure, chances are real slim we'll be seeing any more of Martin in future seasons if the Post report is true.
A representative for ER could not immediately be reached for comment.
Martin joined the show last season as the wide-eyed, first-year intern struggling to get accustomed to life in the emergency room. Lucy and Carter have had a torrid affair, but recent story lines have kept Lucy in the background.
Her departure is the latest in a series of exits that include Clooney and Margulies.
In an alt.tv.er discussion, there's a clear schism between those who want Lucy to stay ("Sigh. What a waste of a good actress and a potentially good character") and those who want her gone ("Here's to hoping they don't chicken out, and give us a beautiful, bloody death").
Before donning her ER scrubs, Martin starred as Becca Thatcher in the long-running ABC series Life Goes On and starred opposite Tyne Daly in the short-lived CBS series Christy.