Charles - not sure what your electrical code may be for your area. But IMHO - breaking a ground any any case could be bad. I know you're talking about the neutral in your post - but back to the code comment - if your place is old enough or wired incorrectly, the neutral may be ran through the ground at some point.

Cut the hot - let the neutral be a return path as it's intended.

If for some strange reason the hot needs to "return" to the source and there's no where to go - it's anyone's guess where it might go. If it can't find ground - then you have the potential to become ground!