Withholding nutrition on the conscious mentally disabled patient: a review and commentary

Ethics Intellect Disabil. 2002 Fall;7(1):5-7.

Abstract

A recent important and poorly publicized legal case in California raised the question of whether the wife of a severely mentally disabled man could intentionally withhold medically supplied nutrition from him on the grounds that it was no longer providing benefits. Rita L. Marker has published a detailed case report and analysis. The readers of the Newsletter on Ethics and Intellectual Disability should know about her analysis. A summary is presented here together with some observations about the issues the case raises. Readers are encouraged to consult the original article: Rita L. Marker, "Mental Disability and Death by Dehydration." National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 2 (Spring 2002): 125-36. All quotations are from the Marker analysis.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain Damage, Chronic
  • California
  • Consciousness
  • Decision Making / ethics
  • Dissent and Disputes
  • Enteral Nutrition / ethics
  • Euthanasia, Passive / legislation & jurisprudence*
  • Humans
  • Mothers
  • Persons with Mental Disabilities
  • Spouses
  • Third-Party Consent