...self-determination [are] fundamental constituents of life,' the value of life may be lessened rather than increased 'by the failure to allow a competent human being the right of choice'"38 A competent patient's concrete interest in autonomy takes precedence over the state's abstract...

...borderline-situations between life and death have increasingly adopted the view that "the value of life. . . is lessened not by a decision to refuse treatment,...failure to allow a competent human being the right of choice"26. The question put by Professor Fleming: "Cannot the dying opt against life being artificially...

...between life and death have incrc view that "the value of life ... is lessened not by a decision to refu; the failure to allow a competent human being the right of choice": by Professor Fleming: "Cannot the dying opt against life bei longed?"27 is now more readily answered...

...intrusions of his bodily integrity," Id. at 225. Likewise, in Lane vs. Candura, 6 Mass. App. 377, 376 NE2d 1232 (1978), the court, in upholding the right of...report from the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomédical and Behavior Research concluded, in part: "(T)he voluntary...

...intrusions of his bodily integrity," Id. at 225. Likewise, in lMne vs. Candura, 6 Mass. App. 377, 376 NE2d 1232 (1978), the court, in upholding the right of...Finally, experts on medical ethics appear to have atrived at a consensus as to a competent patient's right to decline medical treatment under virtually...

...to abortion decisions) that honoring the right of privacy is itself honoring the sanctity of life: The constitutional right to privacy, as we conceive...failure to allow a competent human being the right to choice.24 As to suicide, the SJC noted that suicide required "irrational selfdestruction," and could...

...as we conceive it, is an expression of the sanctity of individual free choice and uelf-detennination as fundamental constituents of life. The value of...allow a competent human being the right of choice. WHILE THIS HAS A LIFE-AND-DEATH CASE, THE RIGHTS OF COMPETENT PERSONS TO FREE CHOICE AND SELF-DETERMINATION...

...self-determination as fundamental constituents of life. The value of life as so perceived is lessened not be a decision to refuse treatment, but by the failure...allow a competent human being the right of choice." Following the Quinlan decision, the right of privacy and therefore the right to refuse medical treatment...

...Supreme Court has added that "the value of life [is] desecrated not by the decision to refuse medical treatment but by the failure to allow a competent human being the right of choice."40 In sum, when a competent, dying patient makes a determination that prospective physical...

...but when, for how long, and at what cost to the individual that life may be briefly extended. . . . The value of life as so perceived is lessened not...failure to allow a competent human being the right of a choice.l0 A. AUTONOMY AND PATIENT COMPETENCE The concept of autonomy is intimately woven into the...