L.A. County to Appeal Ruling Allowing Bouvia to Terminate Force-Feeding

Attorneys for Los Angeles County said Friday that they will appeal to the state Supreme Court an appellate court ruling that quadriplegic Elizabeth Bouvia has the right to demand termination of her force-feeding at a county hospital in Lancaster.

In the wake of Wednesday’s ruling by the 2nd District Court of Appeal, physicians removed a force-feeding tube from Bouvia, a 28-year-old with cerebral palsy who wants to starve herself to death.

Senior Deputy County Counsel Dan Mikesell said the county will argue that the appellate court ruling, which held that Bouvia has an absolute right to refuse any unwanted medical treatment “even if (it) creates a life-threatening condition,” went too far.

Mikesell said the county will ask the state high court to rule that artificial feeding devices and other artificial life-support systems can be withdrawn “only in cases where the person is suffering from a fatal or terminal illness or where the patient is in a coma. That was the law in this state prior to this (appellate court) ruling.”

He said the county also will ask the Supreme Court to stay the appellate court ruling in order to immediately reinsert the feeding tube if Bouvia resumes fasting. Since the tube was forcibly inserted last January, her weight had risen from 67 to 83 pounds. She now promises to eat a minimal liquid diet until she can transfer from the county’s High Desert Hospital to another institution that will not oppose her wish to die.