1. Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote Professor of Bioethics, and Law and Psychiatry, and Director, Center for Medical Ethics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. USA.
2. Barber v. Superior Court, 195 Cal. Rptr. 484 (Ct. App. 1983).
3. Strachan v. John F. Kennedy Memorial Hosp., 538 A.2d 346 (N.J. 1988).
4. Cruzan v. Director, 497 U.S. 261, 323 (1990) (Stevens, I, dissenting), quotingCruzan v. Harmon, 760 S.W.2d 408 (Mo. 1988) (Blackmar, J., dissenting). See alsoCruzan v. Director, supra, at 314 n.15 (Brennan, J., dissenting) (‘Such decisions are made every day, without state participation’);Browning v. Herbert, 568 So. 2d 4, 15 (Fla. 1990) (‘The decision to terminate artificial life-sustaining measures is being made over and over in nursing homes, hospitals, and private homes in this nation. It is being made painfully by loving family members, concerned guardians, or surrogates, in conjunction with the advice of ethical and caring physicians or other health care providers.’);Estate of Longeway v. Community Convalescent Gr., 549 N.E.2d 292, 295 (111. 1989) (‘Frequently, the courts are not consulted at all. There is reliable information that for many years, members of a patient’s family, together with doctors and clergy, have made decisions to withdraw life-sustaining equipment from incompetent, hopelessly ill patients without seeking judicial approval.’);In re Spring, 399 N.E.2d 493, 499 n.9 (Mass. App. Ct. 1979) (The importance of the role of the family and the doctor is highlighted by the self- evident fact that the vast majority of treatment decisions relative to persons who are incompetent by reason of senility or retardation are made for them, by their family and the doctor, without court proceedings. This practice is sanctioned not merely by tradition but by the institutional limitations in the ability of courts to make day-to-day treatment decisions, even if restricted to treatments of a potentially life-saving or life- prolonging nature.’);In re Torres, 357 N.W.2d 332, 341 n.4 (Minn. 1984) (‘At oral argument it was disclosed that on an average about 10 life-support systems are disconnected weekly in Minnesota.’);In re Storar, 420 N.E.2d 64, 75 (N.Y. 1981) (Jones, J., dissenting) (‘There is reliable information that for many years physicians and members of patients’ families, often in consultation with religious counselors, have in actuality been making decisions to withhold or to withdraw life support procedures from incurably ill patients incapable of making the critical decisions for themselves.’).
5. In re Quinlan, 348 A.2d 801, 806 (N.J. Super. Ct. Ch. Div. 1975).