Conservatorship of Morrison

Opinion

KING, J.

In this case we hold that a conservator can authorize the removal of a nasogastric feeding tube from a conservatee who is in a persistent vegetative state, but cannot require physicians to remove the tube against their personal moral objections if the patient can be transferred to the care of another physician who will follow the conservator’s direction. Louise Childs, as conservator of the person of Thelma Morrison, appeals from a judgment denying an injunction. We affirm.

Morrison, now 90 years old, has been a patient at Laguna Honda Hospital since 1979. She is in a persistent…