Severns v. Wilmington Medical Center, Inc.

DUFFY, Justice:

In this Certification proceeding the Court is asked to determine that the Court of Chancery has the power to order that certain life-sustaining supports for Mary Reeser Severas be removed. Implicitly, the complaint assumes that those supports sustain her life. The inevitable corollary is that, without them, Mrs. Severas will die. Thus the issue presented, no matter how it may be described, concerns actions which are expected to determine whether Mrs. Severas lives or dies.

I

Mrs. Severas, age 55, was the operator of an automobile which was involved in a one-car accident. She…