Feeding Tube Is Removed From Right-to-Die Patient

A woman who was brain-damaged in a 1983 automobile accident was removed from her feeding tube Saturday, and doctors predicted that she will die within two weeks, a hospital official said.

Nancy Cruzan, 33, was taken off the nutrition apparatus one day after an order by Jasper County Probate Judge Charles E. Teel Jr. The decision ended a landmark right-to-die case that reached the Supreme Court in June.

Barbara Shoun, director of public relations for the Missouri Rehabilitation Center, indicated that the surgically implanted tube had been removed from their patient, who has lingered in a vegetative state since the wreck on Jan. 11, 1983.

“The Rehabilitation Center complied with the wishes of the Cruzan family and the court order late yesterday (Friday) afternoon,” Shoun said.

Center director Donald Lamkins said that Cruzan would likely die within 10 to 14 days after removal of the tube.

Cruzan’s parents, who said they plan to stay by their daughter’s side until she dies, have expressed relief that their ordeal was near an end.

“I hope very much . . . just to hold her hand when she goes across. That’s the way I feel. She’s my kid,” said her father, Joe.

Cruzan’s parents have been pursuing legal permission for three years to allow their daughter to die. The key move came this fall when the family found friends of their daughter who testified at a new hearing before Teel.

In his ruling Friday, Teel said the new “clear and convincing evidence” showed that Cruzan’s own intent, “if mentally able, would be to terminate her nutrition and hydration” rather than live by artificial means.

Members of the group Missouri Citizens for Life, which also actively opposes abortion, said they would ask Gov. John Ashcroft and the state attorney general to seek a stay of the judge’s order pending a new appeal. State authorities, however, said they would abide by Teel’s latest decision.

Cruzan has been in a persistent vegetative state since suffering severe brain damage in the automobile accident.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court that the woman’s family failed to present “clear and convincing” evidence in the absence of a written statement that Cruzan had expressed the desire to die rather than live in a vegetative state.

However, Cruzan’s parents again asked Teel to allow them to remove the tube, citing the new testimony from friends of their daughter who did not appear at the original hearing.