This issue of Law, Medicine & Health Care on life or death choices, so skillfully put together
by Alexander Capron and based on ASLM's conference last September chaired by …

What a difference a year makes. AS I write this, one year has passed since June 25, 1990,
when the Supreme Court for the first time addressed an issue that has been one of the major …

Medical technology has effectively created a twilight zone of suspended animation where
death commences while life, in some form, continues. Some patients, however, want no part …

Medical practitioners often feel obligated to use all available procedures to sustain patients'
lives. A review of case law indicates, however, that practitioners who abate treatment that is …

On January 11, 1983, an automobile accident in Jasper County, Missouri, rendered Nancy
Beth Cruzan incompetent. Deprived of oxygen for twelve to fourteen minutes, Ms. Cruzan …

1. Cruzan v. Director, Mo. Dep't of Health, 110 S. Ct. 2841, 2845 (1990), aff'g Cruzan v.
Harmon, 760 SW 2d 408 (Mo. 1988)(en banc). Vegetative state describes a body which is …

Suppose you have an adult daughter. You raised her, have remained close to her, and know
her better than anyone else does. And now your worst fears come true: She has become …

Due to an automobile accident, Nancy Cruzan is in a permanently unconscious condition.
She has been in this condition since 1983. She is not terminally ill, and experts suggest that …

States Supreme Court will, for the first time, decide whether a guardian has a constitutional
right to require that all nutrition and hydration be with-held from an incompetent ward …

Discusses the impact of the decision of the US Supreme Court on the first right-to-die case of
Nancy Cruzan. Overview of how the patient loss her consciousness; Advocacy cases after …