CRUZAN V. MISSOURI
Year: 1990
Result: 5:4, favor Missouri
Related Constitutional issue/amendment: 14th amendment (due process)
Civil Rights or Civil Liberties: Liberties
Significance/Precedent: The Living WIll statute upholds the fact that no one can terminate an incompetent person's life. If the person who wishes to end that person's life has formal consent from the person, then they may be eligible to do so. In this case, the state's wish to preserve life outweighs the family's wish to end her life with dignity.
Quote from majority opinion: "There is no automatic assurance that the view of close family members will necessarily be the same as the patient's would have been had she been confronted with the prospect of her situation while competent. All of the reasons previously discussed for allowing Missouri to require clear and convincing evidence of the patient's wishes lead us to conclude that the State may choose to defer only to those wishes, rather than confide the decision to close family members."
6-word summary: hospital sustains life over family's wishes
Result: 5:4, favor Missouri
Related Constitutional issue/amendment: 14th amendment (due process)
Civil Rights or Civil Liberties: Liberties
Significance/Precedent: The Living WIll statute upholds the fact that no one can terminate an incompetent person's life. If the person who wishes to end that person's life has formal consent from the person, then they may be eligible to do so. In this case, the state's wish to preserve life outweighs the family's wish to end her life with dignity.
Quote from majority opinion: "There is no automatic assurance that the view of close family members will necessarily be the same as the patient's would have been had she been confronted with the prospect of her situation while competent. All of the reasons previously discussed for allowing Missouri to require clear and convincing evidence of the patient's wishes lead us to conclude that the State may choose to defer only to those wishes, rather than confide the decision to close family members."
6-word summary: hospital sustains life over family's wishes