Can States Restrict The Right To Die

Essay, Research Paper

The dispute on whether or not the Court System s should be allowed to have control over the life of someone who is not capable of making coherent decisions has been going on for sometime now. This legal issue has many people protesting and arguing on who gets to make a life or death decision. One of the most publicized cases was in the 1970 s when 21 year old Karen Ann Quinlan was in a coma and her doctors said she would never wake up and if her respirator was removed she would stop her breathing. The court did not actually give a finally decision but left this tormenting decision to the party that won the case. Though in 1976 her parents won, and authorized the removal of the respirator, but this did not result in death. Karen endured another 9 years before pasting away in 1985. Another case was the case of 32-year-old Nancy Cruzan who was involved in a serious car accident which left her in a vegetative state. Now since Nancy did not leave a will or instructions stating what she wants done to her in case of this type of incident, so it went to court. These type of decisions have been called Mercy Killings . My opinion is that if a person is so incapable of making a decision due to an incurable disease or a vegetative state that the closest relative or legal guardian should make the decision on what to do, not the court system. Though a decision from court saying to keep a person alive, when the parents say to stop the feeding and remarkably the person actually recovers could have a possibility of occurring, the majority of the time they don t. It is more of a moral sense to me that the parents or loved one s decide what to do because it is in the best interests of the person and through the heart of the loved person in which that love could never be explained.