The potential influence of this case and the Supreme Court ruling on the withholding and withdrawal of life sustaining treatment in mentally incapacitated patients warrants a review of the case.

Nancy Cruzan, a 26 year old lady was involved in a motor vehicle accident on January 11, 1983. When paramedics arrived at the scene of the accident they did not detect any respiration or heart beats. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation restored her breathing and heart rhythm but the patient succumb to permanent brain damage.  The patient was in coma for three weeks. Since then she has been in a persistent vegetative state, a condition in which she is not aware of her surroundings, has no voluntary control, exhibits only motor reflexes and is unable to maintain adequate nutrition without a feeding tube.

A feeding gastrotomy tube was inserted for her nutrition and hydration. When it became apparent that Nancy Cruzan was not going to regain her brain function , her parents requested that artificial hydration and nutrition be discontinued. The authorities of Missouri state hospital refused to honor the wishes of Nancy Cruzan's parents without court approval. The parents managed to obtain the approval at the state trial court. Unfortunately the Supreme Court of Missouri then reversed this decision and precluded the cessation of artificial hydration and nutrition. The legal arguments that followed were complex and will not be discussed here. I will discuss it in a separate article.

Twelve days after the family won the legal right to remove her from artificial support, six months after the United States Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling on her case, and eight years after the tragic accident, Nancy Cruzan died in a nursing home at the age of 33. The final stages of her dying process proved to be as controversial as the nationwide debate that had accompanied her case through the courts.