Family Decision Making on Trial
New England Journal of MedicinePublished 26 April 1990
Bernard Lo, F. Rouse, Laurie Dornbrand
Citations38
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score19.08
SNIP13.47
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TL;DR
The highest courts in New York State and Missouri have made it more difficult to withhold life-sustaining treatment from incompetent patients, but in the case of Mary O'Connor, the New York court ruled that treatment should be withheld.
Abstract
Two state courts recently have ruled on the issue of who may make\ndecisions about life-sustaining treatment for incompetent patients. In
Keywords
MedicineHealth Professions
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