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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 1989)
PAGE 13 — The Georgia Bulletin, December 14, 1989 High Court Hears Arguments In Nancy Cruzan Case BY JULIE ASHER WASHINGTON (CNS) - The right to liberty, “to be free of intrusion by the state,” is as important as the right to life for Nancy Beth Cruzan, who is being kept alive by artificial nutrition and hydration, an attorney told the U.S. Supreme Court Dec. 6. “If her right to liberty is protected she won’t be forced to live in an uncon scious shell in a room with strangers,” said William Colby, a Kansas City, Mo., attorney. But Missouri’s assistant attorney general, Robert Presson, said the state has not “intruded” but has followed through on its “general obligation to act in the best interest of an in competent patient.” Their comments came in oral arguments before the high court in the case of Cruzan vs. Director of Missouri Department of Health, the first so-called “right to die” case the court has agreed to hear. The case involves 32- year-old Nancy Beth Cru zan, who was injured in a 1983 car accident that left her in what has been described as a “persistent vegetative state.” As her guardians and petitioners in the court case, her parents, Lester and Joyce Cruzan, are seeking permission to stop the food and water being administered to her through a tube ~ surgically implanted in her stomach -- to keep her alive. Doctors have said that without receiving food and water through the tube she would die of starvation and dehydration. With it, she could live for 30 years or more, though little hope has been given for her recovery'.. Jones Appliance Service Vacuum Cleaner Sales & Service 31 Years Experience 208 Pharr Rd., N.E. Atlanta, Ga. 237-5783 Engines! We Sell & Install Engines. Honesty is our trade mark. Atlanta & Norcross 446-7876 GENERAL HARDWARE We carry a full line of top brand merchandise giving you a variety of choices. Scarce & hard to find items are a specialty. 237-5209 4218 Peachtree Road N.E. Brookhaven Colby, speaking for the petitioners, urged the court to find in the constitutional guarantee of liberty, in the 14th Amendment, reason for deciding in favor of the Cruzans. “There is a liber ty interest for people con scious and unconscious to be free from invasion of the body the state has ordered,” Colby said. “If Nancy could tell the court she would say her liberty” should be protected. The 14th Amendment declares that no state shall make a law abridging the privileges of citizens, “nor ... deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.” Colby said Ms. Cruzan s family has “clear evidence” from remarks she made to her friends that she would not have wanted to be kept alive in such a state, but he said the court chose to ignore that evidence. “Before the state can in trude” it “has to show some specific reason” for doing so, and in Colby’s view, Missouri “has shown no reason specific to Nancy Cruzan ... only that it has an interest in preserving life.” But withdrawing treat ment "will lead to the death of a ward of the state,” and the state, act ing in the “best interest of an incompetent ward,” has properly decided that Ms. Cruzan should continue to receive food and water, Presson argued. “It’s not a situation of the state intruding as the peti tioner keeps saying because it’s not intruding or seeking to override the choice of a competent per son. The question is how to make the decision for an in competent person, how to decide on behalf of some one who can’t decide for themselves,” Presson said. Also, Presson continued, the state can treat food and water different than other treatment” and “should create a separate cate gory” of procedures for making decisions in such cases. Chief Justice William Rehnquist and four other justices drilled the two at torneys on various aspects of their arguments, but as is usually the case gave no indication of when or how they might rule. U.S. Solicitor General Kenneth Starr, the Bush administration's top court room lawyer, spoke in sup port of the state’s decision, drawing a distinction be tween food and water and other forms of care. He noted that when the parents of Karen Ann Quinlan got permission to withdraw the respirator, they refused to "withdraw Personal Injury Domestic Relations Criminal Law James J. McGinnis Attorney at Law The Law Firm of Mark J. Kadish, P C. 600 Grant Building 44 Broad Street (404) 577-2828 Atlanta, Georgia 30303 nutrition because they believed it presented a dif ferent moral issue.” Regarding the Cruzan case, Starr said, “We believe in this highly sen sitive and deeply vexing” situation, due process should be “interpreted to provide states and the federal government wide latitude” in developing standards that “reflect reasonably’’ people’s wishes. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor asked Colby if the state could override a competent adult’s refusal of food and water. “A competent adult has a strong right to refuse a feeding tube,” Colby said, but added that if the state “presumed the decision was irrational, the state may have a need to over ride it.” Rehnquist asked how one would decide a person is ra tional or irrational. Colby responded that “there is a continuum and all kinds of decisions are made along it and sometimes the state has to intervene, if the deci sion is inappropriate.” Colby used the example of a Jehovah’s Witness who on religious principles would refuse treatment even if it could save a life. In that case the state should intervene, he said, but he added that situation differed from the Cruzan case because there is no hope for the woman. But Justice Anthony M. Kennedy told Colby, “You presume there is a liberty to die without clear and convincing evidence” of the patient’s wishes. Justice John Paul Stevens asked Presson if in Missouri law a judge could ever authorize withdrawal of treatment "if there were not certain evidence as to the intent of a patient.” Presson said some fac tors would make that possi ble, namely if the treat ment caused unbearable pain or any “heroic” measures were used that would be ineffective. Justice O’Connor told Presson she was “concern ed” because it was “not clear what standard” the state Supreme Court set for making its decision to re tain the food and water. The Cruzans have argued their daughter would not have desired to be kept alive in such a fashion. She is able to breathe on her own and has periods of wakefulness in which her eyes move randomly in all directions, but doctors say she is incapable of reacting or relating to her environ ment. ADMIRAL’S BARBER SHOP ALL STYLE CUTS W/COUPON ALSO SPECIALIZING IN KID’S CUTS 4400 Upper Roswell Rd. DRUG EMPORIUM SHOPPING CENTER Boy’s Reg. Cut *7.00 (Under 13) MEN’S Reg. Cut *8.00 All Style Cuts *10.00 Now Open Sunday’s 12 noon to 4 p.m. 10-7 Mon.-Fri. 971-8824 L 5Mr-$ sign of Hope and Love Many children in the Missions do not know of Jesus' great love for them; many, too, are materially poor, lacking possessions. We think of the orphan, the six-year-old, abandoned to tackle life alone. This Christmas support, through the Propagation of the Faith, the work of Sisters in the Missions, who daily, in word and deed, tell the story of Jesus' great love to the children of the world. The Society for THE PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH .. .all of us committed to the worldwide mission of Jesus William E. Lyday, Deacon Archdiocese of Atlanta 680 West Peachtree Street NW-Dept. C, Atlanta, Ga. 30308 I enclose my Christmas gift for the Missions of: □ $100 D$75 D$50 D$25 D$10 DOtherS □ $300 to help educate a Sister-novice for her lifetime service n Name Address City State Zip. ri I would like to be a monthly donor to the Missions! Your gift is tax deductible! 1
