The case of an 86-year-old Minneapolis woman who died in July 1991 after being in a persistent vegetative state for more than a year. The case was the first in which a court ruled that the wishes of the family as to the care to be provided should be carried out despite the recommendation of the physician and the hospital that it was futile. Specifically, the hospital petitioned the court that the respirator be discontinued in view of the fact that its only purpose was to sustain the vegetative state; no recovery was possible. The court in effect ruled that when self-determination is impossible, the next source of a decision is a prior directive, and the third source, the patient’s family. Only if there is no clear directive from the patient, and the proxy decision appears to violate the best interests of the patient, does it appear that the decision should be challenged.<\/p>\n
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The case of an 86-year-old Minneapolis woman who died in July 1991 after being in a persistent vegetative state for more than a year. The case was the first in which a court ruled that the wishes of the family as to the care to be provided should be carried out despite the recommendation of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h"],"yoast_head":"\n