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Legal and policy lessons from the Schiavo case: Is our right to choose the medical care we want seriously at risk?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2006

ZITA LAZZARINI ,
STEPHEN ARONS  and
ALICE WISNIEWSKI
ZITA LAZZARINI
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut
STEPHEN ARONS
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts
ALICE WISNIEWSKI
Affiliation:
Suffolk University Law School, Boston, Massachusetts
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Abstract

The article explores the individual patient's right to refuse, withdraw, or insist on medical treatment where there is conflict over these issues involving health care personnel or institutions, family members, legal requirements, or third parties concerned with public policy or religious/ideological/political interests. Issues of physician assistance in dying and medical futility are considered. The basis and the current legal status of these rights is examined, and it is concluded that threats to the autonomy of patients, to the privacy of the doctor/patient relationship, and to the quality of medical care should be taken seriously by individuals, medical practitioners, and others concerned with developing and maintaining reasonable, effective, and ethical health care policy.

Keywords

Law and ethicsEnd-of-life decisionsWithdrawing or withholding careLiving willsTerri SchiavoEthics committeesMedical futility
Type
Research Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , June 2006 , pp. 145 - 153
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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