Withdrawal of Life-Support From Patients in a Persistent Vegetative State

Abstract

We recently argued that doctors may sometimes be ethically justified in assisting the death of a patient with continued pain or distress caused by an incurable illness and who has expressed a clear and consistent wish for this outcome. We believe that such a policy would be unlikely to lead to the unrequested ending of the lives of patients who are unconscious or severely demented. But could there be grounds for withdrawal of life-supporting medical treatment in such patients whose condition has been diagnosed with certainty as permanent, if they have previously expressed a similar wish? Such grounds may exist in the case of patients left in a persistent vegetative state after surviving an acute brain insult because of modern resuscitation and life-sustaining treatment.