Nancy Cruzan Biography

Paul Bubash

Image taken from this website

 

Late at night on January 11, 1983, Nancy Beth Cruzanwas driving home in Jasper County Missouri when she suddenly lost control of her car and crashed into a roadside ditch. Paramedics rushed to the scene but by the time she arrived, she had already stopped breathing for nearly 15 minutes. By the time she had been revived, she had already suffered extensive brain damage and was in a comatose state, which she remained in for three weeks. When she emerged, she progressed to a state where she was able to take in nutrition orally, but had difficulty with ingestion. A gastronomy feeding and hydration tube was placed inside Cruzan’s stomach. Cruzan’s brain stem was still functioning but her cerebral cortex was severely damaged, enough that she was left in a “persistent vegetative state.”1 Cruzan could see, hear, and experience the other senses, but it meant nothing to her; she could receive stimuli in her brain, but could not process and react to it.2

Image taken from this website

For five years the family of Nancy Cruzan remained hopeful that one day, she might make a recovery from her vegetative state. Finally in 1987, the Cruzan family began to give up hope and began a three-year legal battle to end their daughter’s life by removing the gastronomy feeding tube. The Hospital would not let the Cruzans remove Nancy’s feeding tube without a court order.3 The decision of the probate court was challenged all the way up to the US Supreme Court who found in favor with the Missouri decision to preserve Nancy’s Life.4 Two months after the Supreme Court’s decision, the Cruzans brought their case before a Missouri court again, claiming to have new evidence: some of Nancy’s coworkers testified. On December 14, 1990, the Missouri probate court ruled that there was “clear and convincing evidence that Nancy would want to terminate her nutrition and hydration, ending her present existence, hopeless…and slowly, progressively worsening.”5 Less than two hours after the hearing, Nancy’s feeding tube was pulled and twelve days later on December 26, 1990, she died. In 1996, her father Lester Cruzan committed suicide.

Image taken from this website

 

Notes

(1) Elizabeth Arledge, FRONTLINE: The Death of Nancy Cruzan, VHS, The Kirk Documentary Group, Ltd.( Alexandria, VA: PBS Video, 1992).
(2) Elizabeth Arledge, VHS.
(3) Elizabeth Arledge, VHS.
(4) “Supreme Court Upholds Concept of ‘Right to Die’; But States Can Require ‘Clear’ Proof,” Facts on File World News Digest 29 June 1990, Facts on File World News Digest, Facts On File Services, Internet, February 13, 2008, p.2.
(5) "'Right-to-Die' Ruling In Missouri Case; Cruzan Life Support Withdrawn." Facts On File World News Digest 21 Dec. 1990, Facts On File World News Digest, Facts On File News Services, Internet, March 26, 2008, p. 1.

Legal Case of Nancy Cruzan
Ethical Positions On Nancy Cruzan
Bibliography
Paul Bubash Homepage
1