Supreme Court Case Of Nancy Cruzan V. Arizona

Twenty five year old, Nancy Cruzan lived in the state of Missouri. Unfortunately, One night Nancy was involved in a very serious automobile accident on January 11, 1983 where she was coming home from working a long evening shift. Nancy Cruzan drove a very old vehicle, so it lacked seatbelts. Cruzan lost control of her vehicle, hit a pole and her car overturned and flipped numerous times. Nancy was ejected from her car driver seat and was found face first in a ditch. The first person who found her on the scene was a state trooper at one am in the morning. The state trooper ran straight to Nancy as he saw her lying on the ground in the ditch. She had no pulse and was not breathing, no CPR was performed at this time. The state trooper called 911

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment states “Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” This means with no evidence of Nancy speaking in her own words that she would want to be unplugged if a situation like this were to happen to her. The Supreme Court considered Missouri was violating this right if they were to unplug Nancy. The Supreme Court’s decision was 5-4 in favor of the state of Missouri. The court felt that they could take advantage of one’s life to end it without consent. The four judges with the dissenting opinion were Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, John Paul Stevens, and William Brenan. The five judges who made the majority decision were Anthony M. Kennedy, Bryon R. White, Antonin Scalia and Sandra

At the time, the state of Missouri did not allow anyone to unplug if the patient cannot speak for themselves. Unless, “clear and convincing evidence” that this is what the patient wanted. Nancy had no living will nor did she have anything in writing that this is what she would want. But, she did have a clear conversation with her sister Kris and also, 3 of her co-workers. She stated to them if anything ever severe were to happen to her, she would never want to live in a vegetative state. Her friends and family knew she would not want to live her life like this. In September 1990 this new evidence was brought back to judge Teal which he looked over it. He believed this new information was clear and convincing enough for the hydration and nutrition could be discontinued. The parents were then granted approval to remove her tubes that were giving her food and water. The case was discontinued on December 14, 1990. Once she was unplugged Nancy passed away 2 weeks later on December 26, 1990 with her parents by her bedside. This case added to the Fourteenth amendment stating “equal protection under law” This case was also the first case “right to die” in the United States. This decision was made on June 25,