Hugh Finn was at the top of his game as a television news journalist
when he had a serious traffic accident. He suffered a crushed aorta that
resulted in anoxia. His brain was deprived of oxygen for about 15 minutes.
He never regained consciousness fully. He was placed in an extended care
facility and has been there for three years. He was DNR in the facility.
He has been tube-fed all this time and he regularly receives antibiotics
for respiratory and bladder infections. After one year a healthcare worker
who had just finished giving him a bath heard him say: "You can go now."
Two years later a nurse assessing his condition said that when she walked
into the room she heard him say: "Hello." These were the only two vocal,
or any other type of, responses from him in three years. After the three
years in the facility Mrs. Finn requested that the tube feedings be removed
so that he could die in peace. She said that her husband had often told
her, when he was working on similar stories as a journalist, that he would
not want to live this way. Mr. Finn's brother rejected this proposal and
petitioned the court to remove his sister-in-law as surrogate. The neurological
consult presented to the court declared that Mr. Finn was in a persistent
vegetative state. The laws of Virginia (where the ECF is located) consider
PVS to be a terminal condition. Although Mr. Finn did not have an advance
directive, his spouse is considered by law to be his legal surrogate. The
court ordered that Mrs. Finn was a proper surrogate and that the tube feedings
could be removed. Some Discussion Questions: