Life-Support Removed, Coma Patient Cruzan Dies
Nancy Cruzan, an auto crash victim who lay severely brain-damaged for years while a landmark right-to-die battle was waged around her, died today, 12 days after her feeding tube was removed.
Cruzan, 33, died at the Missouri Rehabilitation Center about 3 a.m., a hospital spokeswoman said.
“Knowing Nancy as only a family can, there remains no question that we made the choice she would want,” her parents, Joe and Joyce Cruzan, said in a statement read at a news conference today. “Nancy, we will always love you and hold your memory in our hearts.”
The tube that had sustained Cruzan for eight years in what doctors described as an irreversible vegetative state had been removed at the Cruzans’ request after a three-year legal battle that produced the U.S. Supreme Court’s first right-to-die ruling.
“She remained peaceful throughout and showed no sign of discomfort or distress in any way,” the Cruzans said in their statement
About 10 anti-euthanasia demonstrators had camped out outside the hospital overnight.
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