Every medical intervention, including
artificial nutrition and hydration, may be terminated at the patient’s request.
Specific legal cases have sanctioned the withholding or withdrawal of
respirators, chemotherapy, blood transfusions, hemodialysis and major surgical
operations. In Cruzan, the United States Supreme Court definitively stated that
artificial nutrition and hydration are medical interventions that can be
withheld or withdrawn under the guidelines that apply to other medical treatments.*
* Cruzan v. Director of Missouri
Department of Health, 110 S. Ct. 2841 (1990).
No comments:
Post a Comment