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Court Explores Catholic Doctrines For End of Life Decisions

By Howard M. Friedman

Matter of Zornow, (NY Sup. Ct., Dec. 23, 2010, posted March 2, 2011), involves a dispute between siblings over whether their mother, an Alzheimers patient in a nursing home, should be denied artificially administered food and water when the statutory conditions for doing so would permit such a decision to be made.  New York Public Health Law Sec. 2994-d.4.(a) provides that a court-appointed surrogate shall made decisions "in accordance with the patient's wishes, including the patient's religious and moral beliefs."  Finding that the mother was a practicing Catholic, the trial court engaged in a lengthy analysis of Catholic doctrine on foregoing food and water. In the course of the lengthy decision, Judge Polito was highly critical of provisions in the New York statute that sets out standards that may be used by surrogates in making health care decisions. He urged the legislature to create a "sanctity of life" rather than a "quality of life" presumption. [Thanks to Volokh Conspiracy for the lead.]

Full post as published by Religion Clause on March 14, 2011 (boomark / email).