for the Right to Die, and the Euthanasia Education Council became the Concern for Dying. In the 1990s, the two groups formally merged and became known as the Choice in Dying.
The first living wills were simple declarations that if a patient became terminally ill and unable to make medical decisions for themselves, their doctors were directed to withhold or withdraw medical treatment that prolongs the dying process and is not necessary to relieve pain or provide comfort (Valko, 2004). California became the first state to legalize living wills in 1976 as the California Natural Death Act. In Missouri, pro-life advocates saw court cases involving the removal of feeding tubes from non-dying brain-injured people in vegetative states, and feared the living will would allow passive euthanasia. Right to die advocates in Missouri denied this and to ensure passage of the living will bill, a provision was added which added that food and water could not be withdrawn, but this provision was soon dropped.
Euthanasia advocates disliked the restrictions on living wills and proposed the durable power of attorney for health care, which allowed another person, usually a friend or relative, to make health care decisions for a patient when they were mentally incapacitated (Valko, 2004). It also added the term ôpermanent vegetative stateö and a list of types of treatments to be automatically refused. States like Missouri and New York then passed safeguards which prevented removal of feeding tubes without clear evidence that the patient would have wanted it if in a vegetative state. This allowed the ôright to dieö position to change into one where choice and legalities were the primary issue.
In the Nancy Cruzan case in Missouri, her parents sought permission to remove a feeding tube despite the lack of clear evidence this is what she would have wanted (Valko, 2004). The case eventually reached the US Supreme Court, which upheld Mis...