Court Involvement in Right-to-Die Cases: Judicial Inquiry in New York

Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on. This scarecrow of a suit has, in course of time, become so complicated that no man alive knows what it means.—Charles DickensTHE American courts continue to involve themselves — perhaps to become irrevocably entangled — in issues of clinical decision making for certain incompetent patients who might die without vigorous treatment. In the popular press, these complex legal cases are all grouped under the colorful and emotional description of the "right to die."One of the most publicized of the cases has been that of Brother Joseph Fox, an 83-year-old member of a . . .