Cruzan+v.+Director,+Missouri+Department+of+Health

//By Shannon Hebert Waldman//
 * Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health

I. Date** December 6, 1989- June 25, 1990 1/1

II. On December 27, 1990, Nancy Beth Cruzan died at the age of 33 years old. A monumental decision by the Supreme Court allowed her the right to die. Eight years prior TO when Nancy's case was brought to court, she had been involved in a car accident that rendered her with no obvious indicators of life. However, perimedics SPELL who discovered her body were able to resuscitate and transport her to a Missouri hospital. After some weeks COMMA Nancy showed little signs of improvement and remained in a "persistent vegetative state", meaning she was unconscious and had no signs of normal brain activity. Her parents argued that Nancy should have the right to die, as they felt she would not desire to live in such a state, and they fought to have the feeding tube sustaining Nancy's life removed. Their stance was supported by a past housemate of Nancy's who also stated that Nancy had voiced that she would rather die than live life as a "vegetable".
 * Summary**

5/5 GOOD

III. The issue the court dealt with during the course of the Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health, was the right to life. This seems to have a similar theme to Thomas Jefferson's quote in the Declaration of Independence: //"// //We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."// Due to the Human drive to survive, it is deemed immoral to condemn a person to death, even if they have a seemingly poor quality of life as in the case of Nancy Cruzan, living in a persistent vegetative state. Nancy Cruzan's case also deals with the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution. Section 1 of the 14th amendment states "...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without the due process of law...". 5/5
 * Constitutional/Legal issue:**

IV. Eight out of nine Justices voted in favor that the Due process of Law Clause in the United States Constitution contained the right to die, and therefore it would have been unconstitutional to vote pro-life in Cruzan's situation. The final decision was made in a 5-4 vote, in favor of Nancy's parent's wishes to have her feeding tube removed so that she could die without further strife. 5/5
 * Decision or Holding:**

V. Both during and after this publicized case, people of the United States began to put consideration into living wills. A living will would contain the writer's preferences on such issues as to whether or not they would desire to continue life if they were in an "vegetable-like state". Due to this beneficial trend confusions, such that were delt with in the case of Cruzan v. Director, Missouri ALL CAPS department of health, were downsized and it was much easier to determine what the writer of the living will would have prefered. Cruzan v. Director, Missouri ALL CAPS department of health also adressed the issue of the right to live. This sparked the intreague of many people, because it delt with an average american landing herself in a situation where she could not voice her opinion on pressing matters concerning herself. NICE JOB 5/5
 * Significance**

VI.

LABEL PICTURE - IS THIS CRUZAN? 1.5/2

VII.
 * Sources (APA)**

Lewin, T. (1990). Nancy cruzan dies. outlived by a debate over the right to die. //The New York Times//, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/27/us/nancy-cruzan-dies-outlived-by-a-debate-over-the-right-to-die.html?sec=health

(1990). //Cruzan v. director, mdh, 497 u.s. 261 (1990)//. Retrieved from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=497&invol=261

(n.d.). //The Right to die//. Retrieved from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/righttodie.htm

The Oyez Project, Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Dept. of Health ,  497 U.S. 261 (1990) available at: ([|http://oyez.org/cases/1980-1989/1989/1989_88_1503]) (last visited Thursday, November 19, 2009).

Kindig, T. (1995, July 4). //The Declaration of independence//. Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm

(Photographer). (n.d.). //Nancy cruzan// [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/righttodie.htm

(n.d.). //U.s. constitution: 14th amendment//. Retrieved from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment14/

2/2

NICE JOB ON A DIFFICULT CASE THAT HAS HAD A VERY LARGE IMPACT 25/25 = 100% (A+)