The Role of State Legislatures after Cruzan: What Can—and Should—State Legislatures Do?

Fenella Rouse

doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.1991.tb01801.x

The Role of State Legislatures after Cruzan: What Can—and Should—State Legislatures Do?

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 April 2021

Fenella Rouse

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In Cruzan, the Supreme Court held that the refusal of treatment is a constitutionally protected right and that the methods for permitting its exercise should be crafted by the laboratory of the states. In June 1990, when the court ruled, there already existed a large and complex body of law concerned with the refusal of treatment which differed, sometimes considerably, from state to state. Generally, withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment has been accepted by the states, but different systems of justification have been used.

Competent people are able to make decisions to refuse any form of medical treatment, regardless of their medical condition; competent people can also prepare written instructions describing the medical treatment they would want to receive in the future if incompetent, which have been endorsed by both state courts and legislatures.

Type: Article
Information: Law, Medicine and Healthcare , Volume 19 , Issue 1-2 , Spring Summer 1991 , pp. 83 - 90

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-720X.1991.tb01801.x [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1991

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