PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - R D Mackay
TI  - Terminating life-sustaining treatment--recent US developments.
AID  - 10.1136/jme.14.3.135
DP  - 1988 Sep 01
TA  - Journal of Medical Ethics
PG  - 135--139
VI  - 14
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/14/3/135.short
4100  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/14/3/135.full
SO  - J Med Ethics1988 Sep 01; 14
AB  - This paper reviews some recent litigation in the United States which addresses the difficult question of withdrawing food and hydration from both competent and incompetent patients. Whilst the decisions in question have manifested a trend towards favouring patient autonomy, they also indicate an underlying tension between doctors, health care facilities and their dying patients which is not yet close to resolution. The author suggests that the courts in the United States are likely to remain, for the foreseeable future, the final arbiters in that country of disputes relating to the termination of life-sustaining treatment.