Courts allow family to withhold water, food from woman

The Associated Press
8/20/2004, 7:38 a.m. CT


WEST MONROE, La. (AP) — A family is being allowed to withhold food
and water from a stroke-ravaged 89-year-old woman, despite a
daughter's contention that her mother did not expect that to happen
when she made a living will.

Acting on the instructions of two other children, attendants at a
nursing home in West Monroe stopped administering food and water
Monday to Doris Smith, said Jack Wright, a Monroe attorney who tried
to block the decision.

Wright said legal options ended when the Louisiana Supreme Court
refused to hear an appeal or order a stay to the withdrawal of food
and water.

"We're at the end," Wright said.

Smith's daughter, Oris Pettis, of Pearl River, went to three courts
contending that the living will her elderly mother signed at her
kitchen table did not detail the "life-sustaining procedures" she
was refusing.

The document Smith signed was nearly identical to the model living
will set forth in state law, which has been adopted by thousands of
Louisiana residents.

Pettis said that her mother did not know that under a list of
definitions separate from the living will, the state includes food
and water in the life-sustaining procedures she refused.

Smith would never have agreed to that had the living will form been
more explicit, Pettis said. As a result, Louisiana was euthanizing
her mother against the woman's wishes, Pettis contended.

But two other children, Steven Smith and Dianne Braddock, both of
West Monroe, argued that their mother knew what she was doing when
she signed the document.

Doris Smith suffered massive brain damage from a stroke in March. A
doctor said she has no significant brain activity, and is severely
disabled physically. She is unable to swallow and has to use a
feeding tube.

Pettis has said medical professionals have advised her that her
mother faces a grueling death.

But calling from her mother-in-law's bedside, Eva Smith said
Thursday that Doris Smith has become less agitated since the
feedings stopped. She said professionals have told the family that
Smith's death will be peaceful.

"This is the way old people used to go home," she said.

Eva Smith said the children who ordered a stop to the
feedings "honored her in life, and now they're honoring her in her
death. She's at peace. This is much better."

Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.timespicayune.com



Louisiana Court Allows Family to Withdraw Life-Sustaining Nutrition,
Hydration
from Mother
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/aug/04082301.html
August 23, 2004 Lifesite.net

WEST MONROE, Louisiana, August 23, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An 89
year-old
woman who suffered a debilitating stroke is being denied life-
sustaining food
and water by her family and doctors -- a court said it was okay
because Doris
Smith signed a living will. The daughter of the woman argues,
however, that her
mother never intended to be starved to death when she signed the
legal document
before her stroke.

Nurses at the nursing home stopped administering food and water to
Mrs. Smith
Monday, following the instruction of two other children, despite the
efforts of
attorney Jack Wright. The Louisiana Supreme Court refused to hear
Smith's
daughter, Oris Pettis', appeal. "We're at the end," Wright told the
Associated
Press.

"Most people have no idea that when it states in a Living Will/Power
of Attorney
that no further medical treatment will be provided in certain
circumstances that
it means they will also be denied food and fluids," according to Alex
Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention
Coalition. "The
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is called regularly by people who
have no
intention of granting their doctor or family members the right to
dehydrate and
starve them to death and yet have a Living Will/Power of Attorney
document that
would do just that."

Pettis argued in three courts that her mother was not aware that
waiving her
right to "life-sustaining procedures" included the denial of food
and water. The
document signed by Smith is nearly identical to a standard state
form used by
thousands of Louisianans. In a list of definitions, not located
directly on the
living will form, but separately, is included the denial of food and
water as
part of the forfeiture of life-sustaining procedures.

"To intentionally kill someone by dehydration and starvation is
euthanasia,"
Schadenberg said. "This differs from removing fluids and food from
someone who
is nearing death and who's body is shutting down, that act is normal
protocol."

"The dehydration and starvation of Doris Smith is a wake-up call,"
Schadenberg
continued. "The message is that everyone needs a Power of Attorney
document that
protects them. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition distributes the
Life-Protecting Power of Attorney for Personal Care. It is a legal
document that
will protect you from being dehydrated or starved to death and allow
you to die
a natural dignified death."

Contact the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition for more information:
http://epcc.ca

Read local coverage: http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/
index.ssf?/base/news-11/109300584267841.
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