Nancy Cruzan Essay

534 Words3 Pages
Nancy Cruzan's battle began on January 11th, 1983 when she was ejected from her car in a terrible accident. That night, the struggle had just began for Nancy's family. The battle that actually lasted a total of seven years, doesn't equate to the lifelong suffering the Cruzan family must live with the rest of their lives – without Nancy. When anyone almost loses a loved one they are put in a compromising position, we become vulnerable and are grief-stricken in every sense. Nancy's family was compromised the first night that Nancy was brought into the emergency room, they were afraid and rushed to make decisions that they weren't ready to make. The shock of what happened had not processed yet, and they ultimately didn't realize that on January 11th ,1983 - “they had lost Nancy”, as her sister put it on the Frontline documentary. From a deontologist perspective, Nancy's autonomy was over looked for a very long time, she was basically just 'kept alive' and had no self awareness whatsoever. Ultimately I do not agree with the courts decision, I believe that the Cruzan's made the right decision for their daughter. My position would not change whether the discovery of MCS was founded or not – simply because all of their options had been attempted in correlation to the beneficence of Nancy. Being stated, Missouri did not have a right to intervene whatsoever. Under the Due Process Clause – the supreme court held in favor of the Missouri State court because there was “no clear evidence that she would have wanted medical treatment stopped”. The Missouri Courts though held in fact that her family was 'competent' enough to sign away her rights to marriage. Essentially the courts decision was bias; and by not upholding families autonomy in cases like these that involve severely compromised patients from a TBI, ultimately you are also neglecting patient's autonomy. The
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