Rasmussen by Mitchell v. Fleming

GORDON, Chief Justice.

Not long ago the realms of life and death were delineated by a bright line. Now this line is blurred by wondrous advances in medical technology—advances that until recent years were only ideas conceivable by such science-fiction visionaries as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Medical technology has effectively created a twilight zone of suspended animation where death commences while life, in some form, continues. Some patients, however, want no part of a life sustained only by medical technology. Instead, they prefer a plan of medical treatment that allows nature to take its…