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BROPHY v. NEW ENGLAND SINAI HOSPITAL, INC.

398 Mass. 417 (1986)

497 N.E.2d 626

PATRICIA E. BROPHY vs. NEW ENGLAND SINAI HOSPITAL, INC.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Norfolk.

September 11, 1986.

Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Frank E. Reardon (Nancy R. Rice & Judith A. Johnson with him) for the plaintiff.

Elaine M. Moriarty for the defendant.

Peter W. Gubellini for the ward.

John G. Dugan for the guardian ad litem.

The following submitted briefs for amici curiae:

Anne W. Hogeland & John Traficonte for American Academy of Neurology.

Carol J. Weil of the District of Columbia for Massachusetts Chapter of American College of Physicians.

Dennis J. Horan, Edward R. Grant, Clarke D. Forsythe & Ann-Louise Lohr of Illinois & J. Michael Roberts for certain fellows and members of Massachusetts Medical Society & others.

Elena N. Cohen & Fenella Rouse of New York for Society for the Right to Die, Inc.

Charles H. Baron & Marjorie Heins for Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

William Crane & Jonathan Brant for Developmental Disabilities Law Center, Inc.

George J. Annas & Leonard H. Glantz for Concern for Dying.

Present: HENNESSEY, C.J., WILKINS, LIACOS, ABRAMS, NOLAN, LYNCH, & O'CONNOR, JJ.

LIACOS, J.

We are asked to decide whether the substituted judgment of a person in a persistent vegetative state that the artificial maintenance of his nutrition and hydration be discontinued shall be honored. The effectuation of the ward's wishes is supported by his wife-guardian and his family, but is opposed by his attending physicians and the defendant hospital. We are faced again with a case where "[a]dvances in medical science have given doctors greater control...

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