The Tyranny of Judicial Formalism: Oral Directives and the Clear and Convincing Evidence Standard
A decision by the Supreme Court of California in the case Conservatorship of Wendland, issued in August 2001, forces us once again to confront the all-too-common situation in which an individual has, on multiple occasions, expressed strongly held personal convictions about life-sustaining interventi...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
2002
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| In: |
Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics
Year: 2002, Volume: 11, Issue: 3, Pages: 292-302 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | A decision by the Supreme Court of California in the case Conservatorship of Wendland, issued in August 2001, forces us once again to confront the all-too-common situation in which an individual has, on multiple occasions, expressed strongly held personal convictions about life-sustaining interventions but failed to incorporate those convictions into a formal advance directive. Many courts have recognized that lay citizens do not consistently resort to written legal formalities in their day-to-day lives, and reasonable accommodation must be made to this fundamental fact about human nature. However, a small but apparently growing minority of courts adamantly insist on either formal written directives or prescience and prophetic precision on the part of the patient before a surrogate can direct the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. The chronology of cases that comprise this minority position in American medical jurisprudence raise important ethical issues. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-2147 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0963180102113119 |