The Right to Die: Death of Nancy Cruzan

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The Deaths of Nancy Cruzan follows an ordinary family's unexpected journey to the United States Supreme Court. The book goes behind the scenes at the painful human cost exacted in a highly public legal battle. It is the true story of an American tragedy that could visit any of us in an instant.

In 1983, Nancy Beth Cruzan lapsed into an irreversible coma from an auto accident in Jasper County, Missouri. Cruzan was discovered lying face down in a ditch without detectable respiratory or cardiac function. Paramedics were able to restore her breathing and heartbeat at the accident site, and she was transported to a hospital in an unconscious state. An attending neurosurgeon diagnosed her as having sustained cerebral injuries combined with significant lack of oxygen. The estimated length of the period without oxygen was twelve to fourteen minutes. (Permanent brain damage generally results after six minutes without oxygen.) After the accident Nancy was not breathing on her own and was connected to a machine, five days later she was breathing on her own and the respirator was disconnected. She remained in a coma for approximately three weeks and then progressed to an unconscious state in which she was able to orally ingest some nutrition. She was moved out of ICU into a private room where the family tried on a daily basis to get a response. In order to ease feeding and further the recovery, surgeons implanted a gastrostomy feeding and hydration tube in Cruzan with the consent of her then husband. Nancy's parents Joe (Lester) and Joyce stayed at the hospital around the clock sleeping on couches and chairs. Her sister Chris visited as much as she could while her two daughters Miranda and Angie were in school. Nancy and Chris were be...

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... others with decision making at the end of life through the Cruzan Foundation.The Cruzan case drew national attention, and the family was put under media throughout the process. Missouri now allows health care directives (though not living wills) to instruct that medically assisted nutrition and hydration be removed after a diagnosis of permanent or persistent vegetative state has been made. The Cruzan case became the first "right to die" argument ever heard by the United States Supreme Court.

The deaths of Nancy refers to the near fatal car accident, which left her unable to respond to anyone; the family's realization that she would never be the person she was; and the actual physical release that Colby and the Cruzans fought to achieve. Attorney Colby tells of a family suffering the loss of a daughter, but unable to gain closure due to interfering medical care.

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