Law Commons^™

Nancy Cruzan And The Right To Die, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

[...]the majority improperly implied that continued existence and treatment in a persistent vegetative state is either beneficial or neutral, whereas in fact "an erroneous decision not to terminate life-support robs a patient of the very qualities protected by the right to avoid unwanted medical treatment... [a] degraded existence is perpetuated; his family's suffering is protracted; the memory he leaves behind becomes more and more distorted.5 " Finally, Justice Brennan argued that the Missouri rules are simply out of touch with reality; people do not write elaborate documents about all the possible ways they might die and the various interventions doctors …