IN RE GARDNER


534 A.2d 947 (1987)

In re Joseph V. GARDNER.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Decided December 3, 1987.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Janet T. Mills (orally), Dist. Atty., Auburn, for appellant.

Robert C. Robinson, Roginson, Kriger & McCallum, P.A., Portland, Edward R. Grant, Clarke D. Forsyth, Chicago, Ill., for amici curiae Americans United for Life Legal Defense Fund.

Stephen Whiting, Hewes, Douglas, Whiting & Quinn, Portland, Steven F. McDowell, Walter M. Weber, Milwaukee, Wis., for amici curiae Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Daniel P. Barrett, Portland, James Bopp, Jr., Thomas J. Marzen, Mary M. Nimz, Indianapolis, Ind., for amici curiae Ethics and Advocacy Task Force of the Nursing Home Action Group.

Roscoe H. Fales (orally), Fales & Fales, Lewiston, for Rosemary Sacre.

Andrew B. Choate, (on brief) for Rosemary Sacre.

Jon S. Oxman (orally), Linnell, Choate & Webber, Auburn, for guardian ad litem.

Leigh Ingalls Saufley (orally), Deputy Atty. Gen. Human Services Sec., Augusta.

Jane P. Andrews, Lewiston, Fenella Rouse, Elena N. Cohen, New York City, for amicus curiae Society for the Right to Die.

Before McKUSICK, C.J., and NICHOLS, ROBERTS, WATHEN, GLASSMAN, SCOLNIK and CLIFFORD, JJ.


McKUSICK, Chief Justice.

This case poses the sensitive question, novel to us, of when life-sustaining procedures may be discontinued for a hospital patient in a persistent vegetative state with no hope for improvement. The Superior Court (Androscoggin County) declared that in the specific circumstances presented by the facts of this case those procedures may be discontinued. We agree.

Requiring proof by clear and...

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