The Significance of a Wish

The case of Helga Wanglie should be seen in the general context of that can arise over whether a patient should be maintained on-support systems. Well-publicized conflicts of this sort usually involve institution seeking to prolong the life of a patient diagnosed as ill and/or permanently comatose, versus a family that claims, with degrees of substantiation, that the patient would not have wanted to kept alive under these circumstances. But other sorts of conflicts about life also occur. Patients who have indicated a desire to stay may face opposition from family or medical staff who think these' lives are not worth prolonging. Such cases can go badly for, who may have difficulty getting their preferences even believed, let respected.