Withholding Food and Water from Vegetative Patients in Military Hospitals: Constitutional and Practical Concerns

Abstract

This thesis examines the theories behind the growing movement that permits the withholding or withdrawal of food and water from vegetative or terminally ill patients. It finds that this practice, permitted in the U.S. Army, is based primarily on the constitutional "right of privacy." The theories on which it is based are not constitutionally defensible, and the various tests that federal and state courts have devised to carry it out are flawed and subject to manipulation. The thesis concludes that the Army should rescind its regulation permitting the practice, but that if it does not do so, it should implement major changes that safeguard vegetative patients in military hospitals.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA456296

Entities

People

  • Lawrence J. Morris

Organizations

  • The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Consciousness Disorders
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Hospitals
  • Law
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Hospitals
  • Military Medicine
  • National Governments
  • Patient Care
  • Personnel Management
  • Physicians
  • Therapy
  • Tissue Donors
  • United States

Readers

  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Medical or Health Care Field.
  • Wetland-Land-Environmental Management.