Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Judge Refuses Patient's Right to Choose

Valley Hospital officials didn’t care that a patient refused life-saving dialysis: They weren't going to let her die. So they got a court order.

Five months later, she's alive and thriving.

The case resembles others in which a judge had to make a life-or-death decision whether or not to limit an individual's right of self-determination.

“In a situation where the hospital's own psychiatrists disagreed as to [the patient’s] mental capacity,” wrote Superior Court Judge Ellen Koblitz out of Hackensack, The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood “sought the appointment of a special medical guardian to consent to life-saving dialysis treatment.”

Her doctor told the judge his patient was “was overridden with a fear of the dialysis machine, partially because, in her view, machines that duplicate bodily functions overly intrude into God's domain.”

Koblitz, in turn, determined the woman “was incompetent to refuse dialysis treatment because she denied that she would most likely die without dialysis.“

Full Article and Source:
Judge Refuses Woman's Bid for 'Death Over Dialysis'>

4 comments:

  1. Reading the first paragraph, I was thinking, "It's all about the money!"

    Then - wow! That was an important decision.

    My cousin is on self-dialysis, and doing well. It saved his life.

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  2. First comment says it all ......

    We want the Judge to break the laws when we agree with their ruling. That is the problem, people no longer have a choice.

    Judges with doctors determine how people live and die ........ that is frightening ????????

    Did you cousin voluntarily go for dialysis or was he forced to?

    Just a thought? That was not the Judge or doctor's call.

    The woman may not of appealed because she can not find an attorney to appeal it.

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  3. Yes Anons, but I believe it's a person's choice, not a judge's.

    If a person has cancer and decides not to have chemo, should he/she be forced?

    And if the answer is "yes", then why did Chemung County NY attempt to terminate Gary Harvey's life last year?

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  4. We should never be forced to accept medical treatment becuase so many times, doctors are just plain wrong in their diagnosis.

    In this case, the doctor was right. But, that's not always true and that's why second opinions are so valuable.

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