A woman with "severe" anorexia who wanted to be allowed to die is to be force fed in her "best interests" by order of a High Court judge. Mr Justice Peter Jackson declared that the 32-year-old from Wales, who cannot be identified, did not have the capacity to make decisions for herself. He made public his judgment on Friday after making the ruling last month.
Early in 2011, Illinois joined the ranks of states that recognize civil unions between both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. The law gives partners in these unions “the same legal obligations, responsibilities, protections and benefits as are afforded or recognized by the law of Illinois to spouses.” Despite the fact that Illinois and most other states still reserve marriage for opposite-sex couples, the option of civil unions will make it easier for some couples to make health care decisions for one another should one of them become incapacitated. Surrogate decision-makers for health care are a significant topic for everyone, but the issue has special resonance for same-sex couples because the law in most jurisdictions excludes same-sex couples from the benefits that marriage and some civil unions confer in those health care decisions. Timothy F. Murphy, "Surrogate Health Care Decisions and Same-Sex Relationships," Hastings Center Report 41, no. 3 (2011): 24-27.
A controversial court that still holds its hearing in private will decide tomorrow whether a pregnant woman with learning difficulties should be forcibly sterilised once she gives birth. Health workers from a local NHS trust and council, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have asked the secretive Court of Protection to decide whether the woman should be forced to have her fallopian tubes cut to stop her falling pregnant again.
We aim to improve the medical care and understanding of disorders of consciousness following an acute insult such as coma, vegetative state, minimally conscious state or locked-in syndrome. Coma Science Group Cyclotron Research Center & Neurology Dept University of Liège
In this article, I consider whether the advance directive of a person in minimally conscious state ought to be adhered to when its prescriptions conflict with her current wishes. I argue that an advance directive can have moral significance after its issuer has succumbed to minimally conscious state. I also defend the view that the patient can still have a significant degree of autonomy. Consequently, I conclude that her advance directive ought not to be applied. Then I briefly assess whether considerations pertaining to respecting the patient's autonomy could still require obedience to the desire expressed in her advance directive and arrive at a negative answer.
Doctors were forced to allow a young woman to die as she had made a "living will" requesting no medical help if she attempted suicide. They would have risked breaking the law by treating Kerrie Wooltorton, 26, of Norwich, an inquest heard. Miss Wooltorton wrote her living will in September 2007, asking for no intervention if she tried to take her own life.
Judge approves forced Caesarean for mentally-ill woman Doctors have been granted permission to perform an urgent Caesarean section on a mentally-ill woman with diabetes. High Court judge Mr Justice Hayden gave specialists at the Royal Free London NHS Trust approval after a five-hour hearing at the Court of Protection. He said the decision was "draconian" but necessary because the mother's life may be in danger. The woman, 32, who is 32 weeks pregnant, was deemed unable to make the decision over how to give birth. The ruling, late on Friday, came after doctors applied for permission to carry out the delivery in order that the patient's "unstable mental state" could be treated. A specialist from the trust told the Court of Protection in London, which specialises in issues relating to the sick and vulnerable, that their priority was "keeping this woman alive".
Respect for patient autonomy and the right of individuals to make their own healthcare decisions where possible lies at the core of the recent Mental Capacity Act 2005. The Act gives statutory authority to “Advance Decisions” (ADs) – enabling people to communicate their healthcare decisions in advance of losing the capacity to do so (e.g. due to coma or dementia). This is increasingly important when new medical technologies mean it is now possible keep people alive for years or for decades in permanent vegetative or minimally conscious states (i.e. with no – or virtually no – awareness of themselves or their environment).
Rechtsonzekerheid voor artsen bij uitvoering euthanasie onacceptabel Artsen houden zich goed aan de euthanasiewet, zo blijkt uit de tweede evaluatie van deze wet. Maar zij worden geconfronteerd met rechtsonzekerheid over het toetsingskader. Daarom steunt de KNMG de aanbeveling van een code of practice voor de toetsingscommissies en dringt zij aan op duidelijkheid over de waarde van de schriftelijke wilsverklaring bij wilsonbekwame patiënten. De KNMG reageert hiermee op de tweede evaluatie van de Wet toetsing levensbeëindiging op verzoek en hulp bij zelfdoding (Wtl).
Although DJ's condition is in many respects grim, I am not persuaded that treatment would be futile or overly burdensome, or that there is no prospect of recovery. (a) In DJ's case, the treatments in question cannot be said to be futile, based upon the evidence of their effect so far. (b) Nor can they be said to be futile in the sense that they could only return DJ to a quality of life that is not worth living. (c) Although the burdens of treatment are very great indeed, they have to be weighed against the benefits of a continued existence. (d) Nor can it be said that there is no prospect of recovery: recovery does not mean a return to full health, but the resumption of a quality of life that DJ would regard as worthwhile. The references, noted above, to a cure or a return to the former pleasures of life set the standard unduly high.
When your time comes to die, you probably hope that you will be surrounded by loving family members and friends who will support you and help you leave this earth at peace with one another. Sadly, for 28 year-old SungEun Grace Lee, who is dying in a Long Island hospital, Rather than suffer a slow, miserable death, Grace has requested that doctors take away the life support. After determining that she was mentally competent, doctors at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., prepared to shut off her life support. But her parents did not agree.
The family of a man left in a vegetative state after a heart attack has made an eleventh hour appeal for doctors to do all they can to keep him alive as they await a vital court ruling. Tomorrow, the court of protection in London will be asked to rule in a dispute over whether it is in "the best interests" of the severely brain-damaged man, who is from the Greater Manchester area, to continue to receive life-saving treatment if his condition deteriorates. Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust claim it is not in the best interests to offer the man, known only as L, ventilation or resuscitation if his condition worsens and he suffers "a life-threatening event", such as another heart attack. But his family disagree and say they, not the trust, must be given the right to decide on his care.
A High Court judge has ruled in favour of an NHS trust that force feeding would not be in the "best interests" of an anorexic woman. Mrs Justice King, at the Court of Protection in London, heard that the 29-year-old woman, who weighs about 3st 2lb (20kg), does not wish to die. She ruled "all reasonable steps" should be taken to gain the woman's co-operation, without "physical force".