Nancy Cruzan on the frigid night of January in 1983 was driving home from her job at a cheese factory down Elm Road in Jasper County Missouri when she lost control of her car and was promptly flung from her vehicle when she crashed into a ravine. Cruzan was later found by EMT face-down in a ditch of water, and was successfully resuscitated when no vital signs could be found. Cruzan was then transferred to a hospital in a comatose state where the attending surgeon diagnosed her as having severe brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation over an extended amount of time, also known as anoxia. Cruzan remained in a deep coma for about three weeks after the accident before doctors decided to further diagnose her with being in a persistent vegetative
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The only life-sustaining treatment that could be withdrawn in Cruzan’s case was the artificial nutrition and hydration supplied through her feeding tube. The people opposed the withdrawal of the life-sustaining equipment, and became inflamed by the notion of Nancy dying from starvation and dehydration when Cruzan’s parents had made the decision to have her removed from the life-sustaining equipment. The right-to-life groups fought Cruzan’s family with passion, afraid of what the consequences to society would be if Cruzan’s family were legally allowed to take away her life-sustaining equipment and hastening her death. The right-to-life groups weren’t the only people against Cruzan’s family’s decision, the rehabilitation center in which Cruzan was housed also strongly disagreed with the family’s decision. Cruzan’s family went to court fighting for what they believed Cruzan would have wanted, and they were vigorously challenged every step of the way. Cruzan did not have a living will, or a durable power of attorney document stating her end-of-life wishes, so initially, the court felt that the state’s interest in upholding the purity of life superseded the quality-of-life arguments that Cruzan’s family diligently …show more content…
Right-to-life protesters stood outside the rehabilitation center Cruzan was staying in after her feeding tube was removed holding signs with comments like “PLEASE FEED NANCY”, many of these protesters even tried desperately to get close to Cruzan in order to rejoin her with her feeding tube. These protesters spoke out in an unyielding disapproval to the court’s decision, disputing what they considered the murder of Nancy Cruzan. The Cruzan case was one of the most substantial legal battles regarding euthanasia, it had revealed the complexity of the medical decision making process to an extensive audience, and motivated Senator John Danforth to present the Patient Self-Determination Act, the first legislation outlining uniform advance directives (Contemporary World Issues). The Patient Self-Determination Act or PSDA for short, was a critical move on the road to expounding the duties of the physician, patient, family, and healthcare facilities. PSDA superseded all state-level living will legislation and guaranteed everyone living in the United States access to advance
The only life-sustaining treatment that could be withdrawn in Cruzan’s case was the artificial nutrition and hydration supplied through her feeding tube. The people opposed the withdrawal of the life-sustaining equipment, and became inflamed by the notion of Nancy dying from starvation and dehydration when Cruzan’s parents had made the decision to have her removed from the life-sustaining equipment. The right-to-life groups fought Cruzan’s family with passion, afraid of what the consequences to society would be if Cruzan’s family were legally allowed to take away her life-sustaining equipment and hastening her death. The right-to-life groups weren’t the only people against Cruzan’s family’s decision, the rehabilitation center in which Cruzan was housed also strongly disagreed with the family’s decision. Cruzan’s family went to court fighting for what they believed Cruzan would have wanted, and they were vigorously challenged every step of the way. Cruzan did not have a living will, or a durable power of attorney document stating her end-of-life wishes, so initially, the court felt that the state’s interest in upholding the purity of life superseded the quality-of-life arguments that Cruzan’s family diligently …show more content…
Right-to-life protesters stood outside the rehabilitation center Cruzan was staying in after her feeding tube was removed holding signs with comments like “PLEASE FEED NANCY”, many of these protesters even tried desperately to get close to Cruzan in order to rejoin her with her feeding tube. These protesters spoke out in an unyielding disapproval to the court’s decision, disputing what they considered the murder of Nancy Cruzan. The Cruzan case was one of the most substantial legal battles regarding euthanasia, it had revealed the complexity of the medical decision making process to an extensive audience, and motivated Senator John Danforth to present the Patient Self-Determination Act, the first legislation outlining uniform advance directives (Contemporary World Issues). The Patient Self-Determination Act or PSDA for short, was a critical move on the road to expounding the duties of the physician, patient, family, and healthcare facilities. PSDA superseded all state-level living will legislation and guaranteed everyone living in the United States access to advance