Call it wrongful life or battery
October 1, 1996 2 minutes read
Call it wrongful life or battery
More and more lawsuits being filed
Plaintiffs’ lawyers are using a variety of legal theories to support lawsuits against hospitals for not honoring patients’ wishes with respect to medical treatment. The most common legal theory for these lawsuits was based on medical battery, akin to an unwanted attack on the body, says Anna Moretti, JD, a lawyer with the New York City -based Choice in Dying, who has tracked some of these cases. Now lawyers also are using legal theories such as emotional, financial, and physical distress; negligence; and wrongful life to bring these suits.1
"In the past there was a reluctance on the part of the courts to punish physicians for doing what they were trained to do saving lives," Moretti explains. "Now, with the increase in the importance being given to patient self determination, we are seeing the reluctance being washed away. "We are seeing more and more emphasis on patient rights and consumerism, being able to choose the way you want to die. . . . Health care facilities are going to have to pay attention," Moretti adds.
The following cases illustrate the legal exposure to which a hospital can be subject for not honoring advance directives.
• In Arkansas, a woman sued a hospital for battery of herself and her patient husband as well as for intentional infliction of emotional distress after she was forcefully ejected from his hospital room. The woman claims the ejection occurred when she protested that she was her husband’s legal proxy and was trying to stop medical personnel from resuscitating him.1
• In California, a man sued a physician and a hospital after his wife was given a feeding tube, strapped to her bed, and given antibiotics despite his objections. The woman, who was in the final stages of a terminal illness, was supposed to be receiving only comfort care. She is still alive and requires full-time nursing care.1
• In Indiana, the family of a stroke victim sued a nursing home for putting her on a feeding tube. The patient was in a persistent vegetative stroke state when she had been transferred to the nursing home to be allowed to die naturally with only intravenous fluids. The woman lived for five months.1
• In Ohio, a man filed a suit against a hospital after he was resuscitated following a heart attack. After he was shocked back to life, the man suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and confined to a bed in a nursing home. The man had told his family and his doctors that he did not want to be resuscitated.1
References
1. New York Times, p. A1, June 2, 1996.
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