Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal Issues:What is the right to reject medical interventions?

The Nancy Beth Cruzan automobile accident case

Although mentally incapacitated patients have the same right, the Supreme Court allowed states to impose restrictions on how explicit and specific the patient’s prior wishes had to be. After this court ruling, some of Cruzan’s friends provided evidence that she had previously expressed wishes that she would want artificial feedings discontinued in such a scenario. As a result of this testimony, her feedings were terminated. Mentally competent patients need not be terminally ill to exercise this right to refuse interventions; they have the right regardless of health status. In addition, the right applies equally to withholding proposed treatments and to discontinuing initiated treatments. Of note, this right to refuse medical care does not imply a correlative right to demand treatment.