The United States Supreme Court has affirmed and all major medical associations agree, that all competent adults have the legal right to refuse any form of medical treatment, or to ask for its withdrawal, at any time, for any reason. It isn‘t suicide, assisted death, homicide, or euthanasia. It‘s letting nature take its course, and it‘s your legal and moral right. For clarifying these constitutional rights, we can thank the parents of a young⬇️
JenniferEgnor woman who worked in a cheese factory in the 1980s. Her name was Nancy Cruzan, and she was 25. On a cold January night in 1983, she was driving home alone from a bar outside Carthage, Missouri, when her car skidded on ice and plunged off the road. She was thrown from her car and landed face down in a water filled ditch. Paramedics arrived about 14 minutes later, pounded on Nancy‘s chest, shocked her heart until it resumed beating, and forced air 10mo
JenniferEgnor into her lungs until they began to rise and fall. But Nancy was too brain damaged to ever again speak or recognize her family. Incapable of eating or swallowing, her body was kept alive by a feeding tube in a state funded nursing home. But the “self” that her family recognized as Nancy Cruzan was gone. Six years later, against opposition from the state of Missouri, her devout Catholic parents petitioned the United States Supreme Court for 10mo
JenniferEgnor permission to remove the feeding tube that kept their daughter suspended in what one of her doctors called “a living hell.” A deeply divided Supreme Court affirmed that all intellectually competent people have the right to refuse medical treatment. But Missouri could require “convincing evidence” of Cruzan‘s wishes. This, and similar rulings, gave rise to the living will. In 1990, a Missouri lower court accepted additional testimony and 10mo
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JenniferEgnor permitted the removal of the feeding tube. A day after Christmas, seven years after her fatal accident, Nancy Cruzan was released from the long, technologically interrupted process of her dying. The Cruzan decision introduced many laypeople to one of the four pillars of medical ethics, that of patient autonomy: the right to determine and refuse medical treatment. The other three pillars are treating patients justly; benefiting them; not harming 10mo
JenniferEgnor them. A doctor who agrees to end an unwanted treatment is not violating the Hippocratic oath. They are honoring your autonomy. 10mo
SamAnne Did you see the recent long read in the NYT about the woman who had suffered from anorexia her whole life going to palliative care and the doctors working with her? Fascinating read about the intersection of ethics, personal choice and medical care. 10mo
JenniferEgnor @SamAnne I didn‘t, but I‘m going to look it up. 10mo
SamAnne https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/03/magazine/palliative-psychiatry.html?unlocked_.... 10mo
SamAnne Open paywall! I‘m not dealing with anything like your describe above, but I did decline-at least for the time being—some serious chemo for breast cancer. Will cause heart damage among other side effects. Had successful surgery and agreed to radiation and am in remission. I feared I was going to lose my doctor for awhile—I was being sent certified letters scolding me. It‘s my body! 10mo
SamAnne Instead of chemo I traveled To Hawaii, Florida Keys, Iceland, Ireland. My sweetie and I decided to not put off the bucket list items. This week I hiked to 11,000 feet to see the wintering Monarch butterflies in Mexico. I would not have had the physical ability for these adventures—perhaps ever—if I did their regiment. I‘m going for 10 glorious years—hopefully more—rather than 20 shitty ones. #mybodymychoice 10mo
JenniferEgnor @SamAnne very interesting article, thanks for sharing. I agree, you should have the right to make a Dec about anything that happens to your body. It sounds like the butterflies were amazing. Our conversation here made me think back to an older podcast episode with a similar question. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-person/id1624946521?i=1000610839932 10mo
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