Section 10.13 Refusal of Personal Treatment

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B. (§10.13) Refusal of Personal Treatment

A patient who has the authority to consent and has capacity may refuse any unwanted medical treatment. This right to control health care treatment decisions is not dependent on the patient’s underlying condition. A patient may refuse treatment even for a nonterminal condition. All patients—competent or incompetent, with some limited cognitive ability or in a persistent vegetative state, terminally ill
or not terminally ill—are entitled to choose whether they want
life-sustaining treatment. In re Peter ex rel. Johanning, 529 A.2d 419 (N.J. 1987).

A patient’s right of refusal includes the right to refuse life-saving hydration and nutrition. Cruzan v. Dir., Mo. Dep’t of Health, 497 U.S. 261, 279 (1990). “Artificial feeding cannot readily be distinguished from other forms of medical treatment.” Id. at 288 (O’Connor, J., concurring). The Hastings Center, a prestigious group of distinguished ethicists who have examined and debated the issue of life-sustaining treatment, concluded “that it is wisest and most plausible to understand these methods (removal of nutrition and hydration) as medical interventions that may be forgone in some cases. Therefore, the standards to be used for decisions concerning termination of these procedures are essentially those that apply for the termination of other forms of medical treatment.” Hastings Center, Guidelines on the Termination of Life-Sustaining Treatment and the Care of the Dying 59 (Ind. Univ. Press, 1987).

There is no meaningful...