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  • Title: Mack v. Mack.
    Author: Maryland. Court of Appeals.
    Journal: Atl Report; 1993 Feb 02; 618():744-76. PubMed ID: 11648279.
    Abstract:
    The Maryland Court of Appeals held that artificial nutrition and hydration could not be withdrawn from a patient in a persistent vegetative state without clear and convincing evidence of the patient's wishes. Both the patient's father and the patient's wife sought guardianship, and the wife sought to withdraw sustenance from the patient. The wife had moved to Florida, where she had obtained a court order appointing herself as guardian. The Maryland court refused to recognize this order. The Florida court had no authority over the patient, who remained a ward of the court in a Maryland hospital. The wife failed to prove that withdrawal of sustenance was consistent with the patient's intent. The Maryland court held that, although the wife had statutory priority for guardianship, her status could be overridden by the patient's best interests. The "best interest" test is defined by the state legislature, and the court refused to conduct its own inquiry into the quality of the patient's life.
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