- 6 months ago
The legal battle by the family of Nancy Cruzan, who was left in a persistent vegetative state after a 1983 auto accident and was the subject of the first right-to-die case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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00:00:01Frontline is a presentation of the Documentary Consortium.
00:00:07Tonight on Frontline, the intimate and powerful story of one family's struggle with life and death.
00:00:14I really didn't know that such life existed as what Nancy's lived these last four and a half years.
00:00:21For five years, Frontline followed the Cruzan family as they fought to disconnect the life support that kept their daughter Nancy alive.
00:00:33If the decision's wrong, if we're playing God, then I'll have to live with that, and I'm willing to.
00:00:44In two previous programs, we tracked the legal battle from local Missouri courts all the way to the United States Supreme Court
00:00:52and heard the arguments in its first right-to-die case.
00:00:56Every patient in this country today could have a life that hangs in the balance on the basis of what the Supreme Court decides.
00:01:03But tonight we tell a different story.
00:01:13Of the private struggle behind that public battle.
00:01:17The story of one family's love and commitment to their daughter.
00:01:21We don't need the preachers, we don't need the spectators, or the this, that, or the news media, or anyone else.
00:01:28That we can pull together and we can take care of her.
00:01:35With funding provided by the financial support of viewers like you.
00:01:51And by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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00:02:25It was 2.25 on a Tuesday morning, and the phone rang.
00:02:55I picked up the phone, and I just felt like it couldn't be.
00:03:05There had to be some mistake.
00:03:10And Christy called us, and then Joyce and Christy and I went on to Freeman Hospital in Joplin.
00:03:18There was a head injury, and that was really all I knew.
00:03:26We were in the emergency room area, waiting area right there, and then when they brought Nancy in...
00:03:39I knew it couldn't be her, because this person on this stretcher was...
00:03:45It was not Nancy, until I saw her socks.
00:03:49And I thought, I kept waiting for him to bring Nancy in, and I thought, what's going on here?
00:03:58And...
00:03:59But it was Nancy.
00:04:03And we waited, and she was in surgery quite a while, and when the nurse finally came out and said, she's going to be all right.
00:04:19When the nurse came out and said that she was going to be all right, I turned, I believe, to Joyce, and I said, I feel like I can breathe again.
00:04:31She, uh...
00:05:00She was going east, and she went off on this side of the road, about 300 feet down from that mailbox.
00:05:12I imagine the car came to rest right about in, oh, along in here.
00:05:24It was upside down.
00:05:27It was on this side of the lane, and, uh...
00:05:32Nancy was lying face down on the other side, about...
00:05:37No, just on the other side of the lane, and about 20 feet down from the car that way.
00:05:42They said it was approximately 35 feet from the car.
00:05:46Probably lying there just about where the lane curves.
00:05:49I went to bed and talked to the trooper that worked the accident, and then I also sent, got a copy of the accident report from the state.
00:06:01There were vital signs on arriving.
00:06:03Blood pressure, zero over zero.
00:06:05Pulse, zero.
00:06:06Respiration, zero.
00:06:07On the report, it said, uh...
00:06:11Code blue, clinical save.
00:06:14But I asked them what a clinical save was.
00:06:18And they said they have maybe two or three times a year.
00:06:23And that's when someone has gone into, uh...
00:06:28Cardiopulmonary arrest, I think is the term they used.
00:06:35And that they're able to bring them back.
00:06:37And sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.
00:06:42Through the first month or so, they did a lot of tests, CAT scans and EEGs, trying to determine the amount of injury and what...
00:06:58How permanent it might be.
00:07:00It looked like she'd gone without breathing for quite some time.
00:07:05And as time progressed, the prognosis looked worse and worse.
00:07:10I really didn't know that such life existed as what needs to happen.
00:07:39These last four and a half years.
00:07:41She would have been 30, or will be 30, on Monday.
00:07:46She would have been 30, or will be 30, on Monday.
00:07:49Happy birthday.
00:07:50Hi, Hannah.
00:07:51How is she not?
00:07:52Hi.
00:07:53Happy birthday.
00:07:54Big 3-0.
00:07:55Oh, we have presents.
00:07:56See what Rand made for you?
00:07:57Here we go.
00:07:58Here we go.
00:07:59Here we go.
00:08:00Here we go.
00:08:01Here we go.
00:08:02Here we go.
00:08:03Here we go.
00:08:21I remember as a baby and as a toddler, almost everything the kid did was funny.
00:08:35She was kind of impish, and everybody teased her a lot because she egged it on.
00:08:42She had a lot of friends. She got along well with her peers.
00:08:45She never saw a stranger, but she was a lot more outgoing than I ever was, or than the other kids ever were.
00:08:58Sometimes I think she worked to embarrass me.
00:09:00That was her main goal in life when we were younger, was to give me a hard time.
00:09:07She was a twirler. She was, in her junior year in high school, she was co-captain, and I was, we'd go to parades everywhere, and I'd take pictures of her, and I'm kind of emotional, and particularly with music, marching band music, and my, you know, my eyes would fill up. I couldn't hardly see through the camera.
00:09:31And she had fun. She, and, and I, I think she enjoyed life as much as anybody I ever have been around.
00:09:43Then in the later years, especially after I had the girls, she was a second mother to them. She spent a lot of time with them. They dearly loved her to come over and to spend time with her.
00:10:01She's just the greatest aunt anybody could ever have in the whole world. And she's funny. She'll let you do anything, but to where you won't get hurt.
00:10:12She was ornery, and she was funny to be around, and she was a good aunt.
00:10:17I think it was just a couple of years ago that we really realized that Nancy wasn't going to get any better, and that she wasn't, I mean, that this had happened, and, you know, all this stuff wasn't, I mean, it wasn't going to get any better.
00:10:33It is an experience that nobody wants to know. It's like, you don't, you don't want your mother to die. You think, oh, that'll never happen, and it won't happen until it does.
00:10:49That's just nature, I guess. I guess she was so good, God wanted her early.
00:10:55Oh, we found birthday cards. Here's a special one.
00:11:12It's got a little chipmunk and a little bird and pretty flowers to a very special aunt.
00:11:19To lovingly tell you it's certainly true, aunts just don't come any nicer than you.
00:11:26Happy birthday with love, Angie and Miranda, and lots of X's and O's.
00:11:36I've never, since the accident, thought that she was aware that I was there.
00:11:42I talked to her as though she would know, and God knows I've looked, because I wish I could say, yeah, I've seen it, but I've never seen any kind of thought process in her.
00:12:01How about we find some more?
00:12:03You see that?
00:12:05It smells good.
00:12:06I wanted to see something that I knew, that I knew was a response, not something that, you know, you might see something once, but it couldn't be repeated.
00:12:21Well, I thought when Nancy gets up and says, hi, Dad, then I'll know she's better.
00:12:26And we would sit sometimes and hold hands and touch her and will strength to her body from ours.
00:12:36I mean, it just had to work, because, you know, I just couldn't be this way.
00:12:42And, frankly, I mean, we begged her, pleaded, you know, tried to bribe her, this kind of thing, you know.
00:12:52I will do anything, anything, just, you know, just respond, just, you've got to, we need you, you can't do this.
00:12:58Trade places.
00:12:59Right.
00:13:00I begged her.
00:13:01I told her I would give her my car, I would do anything, if she would just come back.
00:13:06One of the last things she said to people that saw her, that she had to take care of me.
00:13:16And I felt that if she could come back at all, she would come back to me, to help me, to be there for me.
00:13:27But it's never been, no matter how much I needed her, she just couldn't do it.
00:13:36This particular floor is very unique, because this floor has a lot of life support patients on it.
00:13:46We usually get them after they've been ill for a very long time, and there's no other placement for them.
00:13:53We've had patients here up to 10 years.
00:13:55We have to deal with the after effects of what heroics are done on the roadside, and in other hospitals, we get the after effects.
00:14:13In her case, I think she was without an oxygen, or adequate oxygen, for about 20 minutes.
00:14:22And that really led to her severe brain injury.
00:14:27Now, this is a state that we call a vegetative state, you know.
00:14:32When you are in a vegetative state, you don't understand what people say to you.
00:14:35You open your eyes, look around, but you don't really react to stimuli, you know.
00:14:39And this is where she is, in that state where she doesn't really understand or hear.
00:14:43She can hear, but doesn't understand.
00:14:44She can see, but doesn't, they have no meaning to her, you know.
00:14:51Once you are in a state, a vegetative state, there's really no way of recovery.
00:14:54Now, as far as the lifespan of the patient, they usually, unfortunately, they can't live so long as you can prevent their infections.
00:15:04If you treat all their infections, you give them good nutrition, good support, you know, life support.
00:15:10Yes, they can live for years and years.
00:15:24In a state like that, you know, unfortunately, the patient has to be tube-fed.
00:15:51So, we put a tube in their stomach or in their upper intestine to feed them daily.
00:15:57They remain in that state, you know, permanently and with no further improvement.
00:16:05I signed the consent form to begin the artificial feeding, Nancy, to have the tube implanted.
00:16:14Looking back on it, I would like to have let her gone that night because Nancy died, our Nancy died that night.
00:16:26We've got her body left, but she has no dignity whatsoever there, and she was a very, very proud, independent person.
00:16:38And you would see what was left there, and you wondered why, why, what's the purpose in this?
00:16:46It's like when Nancy would get real sick.
00:16:54She was sick, pretty sick a couple of times, had pneumonia, high temperature.
00:16:59And I don't know that I prayed that she would die, but I hope she would.
00:17:02And that's backwards, you know.
00:17:05When they're sick, you want them to get well.
00:17:07And yet, I don't want her to be sick, but I, you know, I wish she'd die.
00:17:14Now then, does anyone else have anything that we may have missed that you'd like to talk about?
00:17:30When our daughter was in the nursing home, seizures was her problem, and her heart stopped beating.
00:17:36And they said she had started changing colors before they got it going again.
00:17:41Our daughter, after a three-hour seizure, in Cox Hospital in Springfield, so they put her on the machine.
00:17:51Unfortunately, she did come out of it, to a certain extent, but in the last few years, she's gotten worse.
00:17:59I wonder sometimes if that doesn't make the smaller stresses of everyday living even harder for you to bear
00:18:07when you have this tremendous thing that you're trying to cope with that always hovers over and above everything else.
00:18:16Do you think I'd be out of place if I touched a little bit on her?
00:18:20No at all. That's what this period is for.
00:18:22Well, probably most of you know that or have heard that
00:18:30We have, well, I didn't think this would happen this way.
00:18:49Joyce and I have begun a procedure to
00:18:55To have the life support for Nancy withdrawn.
00:19:01We've asked the hospital to do it, and they are not able to without some kind of a court order, which we understand.
00:19:11And so, what we're going to have to do is go through a legal procedure to get permission to withdraw the life support,
00:19:22which in Nancy's case is hydration and nutrition, rather than a respirator.
00:19:30As far as being able to give you a reason why we, why we're doing this, I, the only thing I could say that, is if you knew, uh, Nancy the way we did,
00:19:54But I'm sure it wasn't this way, that you would understand why we feel like we are doing what she would have us to do.
00:20:24OK, well, we bulldozed.
00:20:43Well done.
00:20:45Joe, yes.
00:20:47Joe Cole, good to meet you Joyce!
00:20:50Nice. Nice to meet you.
00:20:51It's going to be a very expensive procedure, and frankly, we couldn't afford to do it.
00:21:03We have our attorney in Joplin that we've dealt with.
00:21:05Well, they suggested that we go try the American Civil Liberties Union in Kansas City, so I contacted them, and they in turn confirmed it's Shook, Hardy, and Bacon.
00:21:17What I thought we'd do this morning, other than just get acquainted, was just to get a little bit of a factual background.
00:21:27The big case that everybody knows something about was the Karen Quinlan case, but here with the Cruzans, this is the first case in Missouri.
00:21:40And it's not something, and it shouldn't be something that our courts or our legislature resolves lightly or without a full hearing on what both sides of the question are.
00:21:58Are you in contact now with her doctors?
00:22:04Have you talked with any of them about what would happen if the G-tube is removed?
00:22:10We talked with our physician, our personal physician, about that.
00:22:15And what did he tell you?
00:22:16The main thing we asked him was about her death, if it would be traumatic, and he said, in my opinion, for her, no, for you and your wife, yes.
00:22:32And by that, I'm not really sure what he meant, except maybe having to watch her die and the process that we'd have to go to to bring it back.
00:22:51We have to establish somehow that this is in the best interest of Nancy.
00:23:04You do that by looking at statements she made in her life.
00:23:08If she made clear statements that she wouldn't want these kinds of things, then that's strong evidence to the court.
00:23:16You do that by looking to the substituted judgment of loved ones and people close to her.
00:23:23Say to them, you knew Nancy, you know what she was like.
00:23:30She's not able to tell us now what she would have wanted.
00:23:34What do you think she would have wanted?
00:23:37I don't remember the first time it was brought up or brought up with Christy,
00:23:41but I remember Christy saying, I know exactly, if we could call Nancy up and ask her, I know what she'd say.
00:23:50She would say, look, I realize it's hard on everyone else, but let me go.
00:23:59I've got other things to do.
00:24:01I've got other places to go.
00:24:04So turn me loose.
00:24:05The Cruzans had sent the letter officially asking that this be done.
00:24:24This was discussed with the Department of Health attorney,
00:24:27and the answer came back that the law says, no, we can't do it.
00:24:32We know that we can unplug a machine that's been talked about in so many places.
00:24:39TV shows have shown that.
00:24:41That is nearly so hard for us to accept.
00:24:43But the fact that we starve somebody to death, we don't do that.
00:24:47That's beyond our ability to think, even at this point in Missouri.
00:24:52We're going to get a question, because you're going to get to use both ways, certainly.
00:25:01Hi, man.
00:25:04How you doing?
00:25:05Good company.
00:25:07Looks like you need your hair brushed.
00:25:14Nancy, we brought a fellow by the name of Bill Colby at with us.
00:25:17He's the one that's going to represent us in this thing that we've talked about.
00:25:26Hi, Nancy.
00:25:30I think she's well impressed.
00:25:33Is this how she appears each time you come?
00:25:38Yeah, this is it.
00:25:40Has her facial expression ever changed?
00:25:48You know, not unless, you know, there's pain or something like that.
00:25:53Is it possible to see the two without them?
00:26:11I've never seen a person in a persistent vegetative state before.
00:26:41I knew from talking with Joe and Joyce that she wasn't in a completely still, closed-eyed, comatose state,
00:26:54and that she had certain reflexive brainstem functions.
00:26:59That in the abstract, thinking of it medically is one thing.
00:27:02It was a very sobering experience for me to go there and see her.
00:27:22And it made me appreciate all the more what this family is going through.
00:27:32They're pushing for something that many people, and I think people even around them here today,
00:27:40are telling them, no, you can't do that because we haven't faced that situation.
00:27:45Nobody has been willing to make that decision in a case like Nancy's.
00:27:51I wouldn't want to hold back food or liquids, never.
00:28:02I want to come out of this without a guilt complex.
00:28:07And I think I can do everything.
00:28:08I think nature will take care of that.
00:28:10Time will take care of it.
00:28:11We'll just keep the course.
00:28:13I couldn't do that because every time I'd think of sitting down to a meal,
00:28:25I'd think of my daughter laying up there, not having anything to eat, you know,
00:28:30and that would bother me.
00:28:32You know, it would bother me a lot.
00:28:33I love you, baby.
00:28:35Yeah.
00:28:35Mama always wants to take care of you.
00:28:37Yes, I am.
00:28:39I'm always going to take care of you.
00:28:41There have been times that, you know, I've thought, how can you murder your own child?
00:29:00Our decision was based on what we felt like that Nancy would want,
00:29:05and that's all we have to justify, that if the decision's wrong,
00:29:14if we're playing God, then I'll have to live with that, and I'm willing to.
00:29:20I don't know why.
00:29:45Just hope we can get our point across.
00:29:47We'll have today to just kind of sit back and watch.
00:30:05She'd be armed and ready today.
00:30:08Right.
00:30:08I can just see her.
00:30:14Walk in there like she owns the courtroom.
00:30:16Yeah.
00:30:20Just daring anybody to look cross-eyed at her.
00:30:23The first correspondence that we had from the Department of Health that seemed it was going to be a friendly suit,
00:30:43but then when the attorney general's office got into it.
00:30:46I can't say that they became adversarial, but it took a different tone, I felt.
00:30:55We think in this case, to the extent that the state law speaks in Missouri, it speaks of a policy which will not deny food or water.
00:31:11We believe the legislature has spoken, and that the public policy that they have articulated is one which would not allow this family to do what they're seeking to do.
00:31:21May it please the court, if Nancy could come before this court today.
00:31:31She would say to you, stop what is happening to me, stop what is happening to the family that I love.
00:31:41I don't want to be preserved on this machine any longer.
00:31:46Never let me die with dignity.
00:31:48She has a fundamental right to be free from that kind of medical treatment if she doesn't.
00:31:58I don't know.
00:32:12If he said, no, you can't do this, then it would be a continued fight.
00:32:17If he said, yes, you can, then Nancy would have to die, we would have to go through that process.
00:32:23I really felt like we couldn't win either way.
00:32:29Thanks.
00:32:30You're welcome.
00:32:31See you tomorrow.
00:32:32Alright.
00:32:53See you tomorrow.
00:32:54Bye, everyone.
00:32:56Bye.
00:32:57Bye.
00:32:58Bye.
00:32:59Bye.
00:33:00Bye.
00:33:01Bye.
00:33:02Bye.
00:33:03Bye.
00:33:17Bye.
00:33:18Bye.
00:33:19Bye.
00:33:20Bye.
00:33:21Bye.
00:33:22Bye.
00:33:23You want me to read all of it or go through it?
00:33:35I'm just reading the part that tells what it is first.
00:33:38Well, let's see. There's that.
00:33:48Do you want me to just find what the description is?
00:33:50Just find that first and see.
00:33:53I thought it'd be at the front.
00:33:59Well, I still haven't found it.
00:34:05Okay.
00:34:06It is a fundamental right expressed in our Constitution as the right of liberty,
00:34:11which permits an individual to refuse or direct withholding or withdrawal of artificial death prolonging procedures.
00:34:18The employees of the state of Missouri are directed to cause the request of the court guardians to withdraw nutrition and hydration to be carried out.
00:34:26Such a request, having court approval, shall be taken the same as a request for discontinuation of any other form of artificial life support systems.
00:34:36The care and compassion of their respondents and their associates have already shown our ward and her guardians incomparable,
00:34:46incomparable, incomparable by any standards are in keeping with the overwhelming tragedy that has been visited upon all of us.
00:35:00Of them, that's all.
00:35:01So, what does it say?
00:35:02It says that...
00:35:03It says that...
00:35:04It says they are directed to cause the request of the court guardians to withdraw nutrition or hydration to be carried out.
00:35:18So, if that's winning, we won.
00:35:19Well, we were surprised that here in extremely conservative southwest Missouri, where nothing ever happens first, the judge came out with a decision like that.
00:35:44I talked to one nurse last night who was one of the nurses that directly is responsible for her care.
00:35:54And I mentioned that I was a little surprised.
00:35:57And she said, I was shocked.
00:35:59She said, I just never thought it would happen.
00:36:02To me, it's very inhumane to do.
00:36:06And I can't believe that any judge or any human would take it within their self to say, we're going to take this feeding away from this human being.
00:36:21I just can't believe that anybody will do that.
00:36:25To take away that life that you've saved, somebody's making some decisions that I don't feel should be in their hands.
00:36:32I don't feel should be in their hands.
00:36:42Hi, Nancy.
00:36:45That's what's better.
00:36:47Well, Nancy, we got a decision from Judge Teal today.
00:36:59He revealed that you do have constitutional rights to determine your own treatment.
00:37:12So it was all favorable.
00:37:17I don't think that you know what we're talking about.
00:37:26I don't have any way of knowing that.
00:37:28But if you do, we've talked about this a lot before.
00:37:33And Jill, while we're doing it.
00:37:44We've still got a ways to go.
00:37:46But at least we won the first round.
00:37:50Yeah.
00:37:51I can't believe in the new village.
00:37:52Yeah.
00:37:53Can you look back...
00:38:10Yeah.
00:38:11I really didn't realize that this could go on and on and on and on,
00:38:38and I really didn't think that it would.
00:38:45Well, we think that this is a good case for the state of Missouri to be involved in,
00:38:49and I think that win or lose, we will be involved in an appeal
00:38:53until we get an ultimate determination on what this family can do.
00:38:59I don't think that it's fair that it has to be a public debate.
00:39:07These are decisions that I feel like families should make privately,
00:39:16with the help of their doctor.
00:39:19But unfortunately, at this point in time in the state of Missouri,
00:39:27that's not an option that's available.
00:39:30And Nancy wouldn't be the kind of person to just sit back and do nothing.
00:39:36Judge Robertson kept asking you, though, for a legal basis to go ahead and do what...
00:39:41How do you see that applying in this case?
00:39:43I don't think it does apply.
00:39:45I don't like having people shove cameras in my face and wanting to take pictures,
00:39:49because you think, am I supposed to be happy, or am I supposed to be standing here looking real depressed,
00:39:56or what am I supposed to do?
00:39:58So I just kind of stood there thinking, I hope I'm doing the right thing.
00:40:04Obviously, I hope they go in our favor, but I'm just kind of dreading the day that we'll have to do it, you know, or the days.
00:40:21Because, you know, that'll just be, like, we're losing Nancy, but I think, I think we'll probably see her somewhere else.
00:40:31So, you know, and she'll look like Nancy, she'll act like Nancy, she'll be Nancy.
00:40:38So, that's, you know, that's what I hope will come out of this.
00:40:42But I hope they, they say okay, so we can get this over with.
00:40:51Bill Colby called about four o'clock. I had just gotten off work, and I was running some errands.
00:41:06And when I got home, when I came home, the girls were here, and my mom was here,
00:41:11and when I opened the back door, I could tell something was wrong, and I wouldn't step on into the house.
00:41:19I asked them what was wrong, and they all looked at me.
00:41:23And I asked them again, and by that time, I was crying.
00:41:28And I thought, perhaps Nancy had died. I just didn't know.
00:41:34It never occurred to me that they had ruled against us, that they had overturned Judge Teal's decision.
00:41:44The reason they stated was that we did not have the right as guardians to make that decision for Nancy.
00:41:50And, I mean, in other words, where did they get the authority to make that decision?
00:41:56Because they did make a decision. There had to be a decision made to let her live or to let her die.
00:42:03We wanted to let her die.
00:42:05They made the decision that she should live.
00:42:08She would not want that.
00:42:10And yet, somebody out here says, it doesn't matter what she wants.
00:42:14It doesn't matter what you want as her family.
00:42:17The state says, life is precious.
00:42:20Therefore, it doesn't matter what you want.
00:42:24It doesn't matter at all.
00:42:26Nancy doesn't matter.
00:42:28It's cold out there.
00:42:48The hands are probably cold, aren't they?
00:42:58She just, I don't know.
00:43:02To me, she looks worse all the time.
00:43:04And she would be very upset by the way she is.
00:43:10It's getting more and more and more difficult to go up and see her,
00:43:15because that's not Nancy up there.
00:43:20It doesn't even look like Nancy anymore.
00:43:23My dad has always been a fixer.
00:43:30He's always wanted to make things right.
00:43:35I think he feels so helpless.
00:43:40It's made a very pessimistic, angry person out of me.
00:43:52Frustrated in that I really feel like that what I was doing
00:44:00or trying to do was what Nancy would want us to do.
00:44:04But I mean, I feel like I'm in a sack and I want to get out of it,
00:44:08but I don't know where to hit.
00:44:10I don't know which way to turn.
00:44:12I don't know what to do.
00:44:14I've even, sometimes I've wondered, is my obsession for me now that I'm not going to take no for an answer?
00:44:23Or is it for Nancy?
00:44:25And in reality, I know that it's not for Nancy.
00:44:27It's for everyone that's in this condition and to have the state come in and say, no, you can't do this.
00:44:34It's not over until it's over.
00:44:36And it's not over yet.
00:44:38We still have the Supreme, the U.S. Supreme Court,
00:44:41and I'm hopeful that they will have the courage, fortitude, foresight, whatever you want to call it,
00:44:48to see that this needs to be addressed.
00:45:09Every court in the country that has addressed this issue would allow them to have that tube removed
00:45:16and allow them to die with dignity.
00:45:21Missouri certainly is out there marching by itself against the trend of decisions everywhere.
00:45:33That life is sacred and we should not indiscriminately take away life.
00:45:39Who are we to play God?
00:45:41We are not qualified to play God.
00:45:43That seat is already on.
00:45:46Good morning, my name's Bill Webster, or William Webster, Missouri Attorney General's Office.
00:45:58I think the argument went well.
00:46:00Frankly, we're all treading on fairly new ground here.
00:46:04There's no other federal law which has ever suggested there is a right that goes this far.
00:46:11The constitutional right is the right to not have the state intrude into your body unless they give a good reason for doing it.
00:46:20They've given no reason here.
00:46:22If you get into my granddaughters, there's going to be a problem.
00:46:35I keep thinking, you know, what am I doing here? Why me?
00:46:46I feel like that.
00:46:47I'm at the Super Bowl game and they've got me clear back up in the highest bleacher in the poorest seat in the house.
00:47:00And these other two teams are playing and they're playing with my football.
00:47:07And there's not a damn thing I can do about it except just watch.
00:47:13Come on then.
00:47:14We're ready for this guy.
00:47:26From ABC, this is World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.
00:47:30Good evening.
00:47:31We begin tonight with two of the most difficult decisions that a person ever faces.
00:47:34Whether to have an abortion and whether to end the life of someone who is being kept alive only by artificial means.
00:47:40Today, the Supreme Court has set some limits.
00:47:43First, the right to die.
00:47:45The Supreme Court ruled today the Cruzans had no constitutional right to remove their daughter's feeding tube.
00:47:51Rather, states have the right to insist on clear and convincing evidence is what the victim would want.
00:47:57Chief Justice William Rehnquist said the parents' wishes were outweighed by the state's interest in the preservation and protection of human life and the state's right to guard against potential abuse.
00:48:06I was sorry that they hadn't gotten us out of it, but once Bill explained all that it said, I felt like maybe they had given us an out in that we could go back into court and introduce new evidence.
00:48:25We went back into court essentially with the testimony of three people who contacted the Cruzans after the argument at the U.S. Supreme Court called them to say,
00:48:44You do not know me, but I knew Nancy. We talked about these issues and we just wanted you to know that you are doing what she would have wanted.
00:48:55That was very compelling testimony.
00:48:59Good Morning America is brought to you by Citibank.
00:49:27Five before nine, we go to Mike Schneider. He'll take a quick look at the stories making news this morning, Mike.
00:49:35Thank you, Charlie. In Missouri, a judge decides today whether the Cruzan family can remove their daughter from life support systems.
00:49:41Nancy Cruzan has been in a coma ever since a car accident seven years ago.
00:49:45And finally, at finally home. And...
00:49:47Oh, my God. It was in 12 to 12 last month.
00:49:49Now then...
00:49:51Poinsettias.
00:49:52Well, this is a big day.
00:49:54Well, this is a big day.
00:50:13Dad was in Mount Vernon waiting to hear from Colby as to what the decision was.
00:50:19We knew that he was supposed to bring the decision over to the house.
00:50:24Well, it would be hard to get down to it.
00:50:37I guess we'll go see what happens.
00:50:54I can't remember.
00:51:07Don't go down.
00:51:09I'm not nervous.
00:51:11Mr. Colby?
00:51:19Yes, I am.
00:51:24Yes, sir.
00:51:27Yes, sir.
00:51:46Everyone, everyone okay there?
00:51:51You know, right, right, understandable, understandable, understandable, um, right, right.
00:52:04You know, right, right, right, right.
00:52:16You know, right, right, right, right, right.
00:52:36Well, we got a green light.
00:52:53It's time.
00:52:54It's time.
00:52:55It's time.
00:52:56It's time.
00:52:58Okay.
00:53:11Nothing.
00:53:20I didn't see you too much.
00:53:24Hi, ma'am.
00:53:30It must be official now.
00:53:36Well, you know as well as I did if we were doing fine.
00:53:40I know.
00:53:50Sometimes, right, it's not always easy.
00:53:57Did it all come out the way we wanted it or stipulations or things?
00:54:05No.
00:54:06While we go, let's go talk to Lance.
00:54:09That's okay.
00:54:11There was a lot of people that didn't want to do it, including myself.
00:54:15I would rather not be involved with that portion of it.
00:54:19So we had the discussion with Mr. Covey and the family.
00:54:26And I made calls to our attorney.
00:54:30And finally the answer came back that yes, it's to be done here.
00:54:49I walked up to the desk and it was announced that we were going to move her.
00:54:57And we said, now? And they said, yes.
00:55:00At first it was like, it was unreal. And then as I was going down the hall, I kind of got mad. I had anger.
00:55:13Sorry Nancy.
00:55:26It's something that I didn't want to do.
00:55:28But at the same time, I still am obligated.
00:55:33I think maybe that was, maybe that was my reason for anger in the movie.
00:55:38Is that I knew that it had to be done and someone was going to do it.
00:55:43And maybe this was my last contact with her. So, yes, I'd do it. But yet I was angry because of it.
00:55:55Nan was moved over to a hospice portion of the hospital.
00:56:00And I remember we went kind of a back way to avoid the media and a lot of the people there in the hospital.
00:56:08And we got over to the hospice unit and met the nurse that was taking care of the unit for the evening.
00:56:20When this whole thing started, we were asked our opinions, our feelings.
00:56:25And we spoke up. I spoke up as well in her cause.
00:56:32And on, you know, for Nancy's sake, I hadn't ever met the parents.
00:56:38And all I knew is that I didn't think it was right to pull out a tube and deliberately allow someone to die.
00:56:45A slow death when, if you're going to do that, you might as well just inject them.
00:56:49And I held firmly to that.
00:56:56And I still have a lot of trouble with that.
00:56:59You know, I wish that it could be quicker.
00:57:01This is nature's way, though.
00:57:03Man stopped nature a long time ago from taking its course.
00:57:07It's going to be difficult, kind of a tough couple of weeks for her, but then she'll be free.
00:57:21In that statement that I wrote the other day, I'll read as much of it as I can.
00:57:31I don't know if I can read all of it or not.
00:57:34It said, during the late fall and winter of 1986, realizing that Nancy was not going to recover
00:57:40and that she would not wish to continue in her present condition, I made a commitment to her to allow her to die with some dignity.
00:57:49On May 28, 1987, we presented a letter to the Missouri Rehabilitation Center requesting that treatment be stopped.
00:57:56Today, 1,295 days later, we have that court order.
00:58:04She was our bright, flaming star who flew through the heavens of our lives.
00:58:09Though brilliant, her flight was terribly short-lived.
00:58:12But she has left a flaming trail, a legacy that I do not think will be shortly forgotten.
00:58:20Because of Nancy, I suspect hundreds of thousands of people can rest free,
00:58:25knowing that when death beckons, they can meet it face to face with dignity,
00:58:29free from the fear of unwanted medical treatment, unwanted and useless medical treatment.
00:58:36I think this is quite an accomplishment for a 25-year-old kid, and I'm damn proud of her.
00:58:43I know that wherever she is today, she is looking down, beaming with pride, damned proud of her family.
00:58:50Now we walk with her to the door of death, so that she may at last pass through and be free.
00:59:15I don't even know why I tried to do that.
00:59:28So fly away, little sister, and have fun.
00:59:45Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
01:00:15call it home, that group of people that were going to come, storm the hospital, was the
01:00:19words they used, and chained themselves to Nancy's bed, put the feeding tube back in.
01:00:40Okay, six all the way to go traffic unless necessary.
01:00:43Ten more.
01:00:45If I could get up there, and I know they've got plenty of good nurses, and then I would put the tube back in her myself.
01:00:51I'd hope to be able to try something like that, but we're not going to make it.
01:00:53Is that what that is around the neck?
01:00:56It would be needed, yes.
01:01:00I have a friend upstairs, and I was trying to give her a cup of water.
01:01:03Who's your friend?
01:01:04Nancy Cruzan.
01:01:06And there are policemen up there, and they won't let me give her a cup of water.
01:01:09And I'm commanded by the scripture to give a friend a cup of water.
01:01:13That's all I want to do.
01:01:18Okay, folks, from the part you can, kneel and pray as we agree.
01:01:24God, help us to repent and turn back to you.
01:01:29Change the Cruzan's mind about this, Lord.
01:01:32They'll let their daughter be fed.
01:01:36Father, I adore you.
01:01:42Lay next life before you.
01:01:47I felt, like, threatened.
01:02:08I mean, not me physically, personally, but it was, like, almost like you had to protect Nancy.
01:02:17There were times that Joe leaned against the door and held a shot.
01:02:21Not that anybody was trying to get in, but just in pain.
01:02:24I mean, you could hear that there was stuff going on out there.
01:02:26We need everybody to clear the hallway, media and everyone.
01:02:44So, um, if, if you all would, uh, go on out, and the ones that don't want to go out, we'll take out.
01:02:52Are you moving or going?
01:02:53Yeah.
01:02:53Let's go.
01:03:23The first time that we came down here after her, after it was disconnected, it was just
01:03:36Nancy's dying is all I could think, Nancy's dying, she's laying in this bed, she's dying.
01:03:43It feels, it's so different because now this is final, I mean, when I leave here today,
01:03:53it could be the last time I see her alive. I mean, you know there's not a tube hooked up to her and you
01:04:01know she's dying and that's what makes it really, really difficult because we've never had anybody
01:04:10close to us die before. I asked mom if she, if, if she was hungry and she said that, you know,
01:04:17no, probably not. And I asked her if she was afraid and mom said probably not because mom said
01:04:27that it's like, it's like riding on a bus for a long time. It's, you know, like when you take a long
01:04:33trip, you get tired of riding. It's kind of like this maybe. She's tired of riding like this way.
01:04:40So she's almost there. You know how, how you can see the lights and you're almost home.
01:04:54Are you scared? Yeah. Are you scared to be in here? Yeah. Yeah.
01:05:01You don't have to stay in here. I don't want to. Okay. It's whatever you want to do.
01:05:18Would you like me to just shut up?
01:05:23Probably. You can't really say that. I'll shut up. Okay.
01:05:29That's probably what me going to be saying. Just shut your mirror up.
01:05:40Okay.
01:05:40Apparently there was a press release put out this morning that her condition was deteriorating.
01:06:01I think you probably noticed that her eyes were getting a little blood cut.
01:06:18Is that an indication that we should put more artificial tears in or is that just, I mean, is it from dryness?
01:06:40Yeah. That may be from dryness, yes.
01:06:43Okay.
01:06:47I'll see you in the morning.
01:06:49See you later.
01:06:49There's an awful lot of discussion on it among physicians and nurses.
01:06:58I've heard a lot of people state to this effect, you know, the statement that we don't kill our patients.
01:07:06We're taught in medicine to prolong life and ease suffering.
01:07:16And through a lot of reading and introspection and meditating, whatever you want to call it,
01:07:31I've come to the conclusion that sometimes they're not mutually compatible,
01:07:36that you cannot relieve suffering while you are prolonging life.
01:07:44And in a case like that, you may have to elect for one or the other.
01:08:01If I was to remove food and water from my cow, they'd arrest me and put me in jail.
01:08:07But you take a human being that can think and eat, and they'd starve them to death.
01:08:12But she made a good remark, too, which I thought, because Joanne was referring to being in a vegetative state.
01:08:18And whoever gave that idea, that's a terrible...
01:08:21Yeah.
01:08:21It's another society as well.
01:08:22It's a cover-up.
01:08:23To put on a person.
01:08:25Vegetable is going to be just like fetus was.
01:08:26That's the word they're going to use.
01:08:28If it's not fully human, then you can kill it.
01:08:30Yeah.
01:08:30And a vegetable isn't good.
01:08:31I mean, a person can't eat a vegetable.
01:08:33They have a soul.
01:08:35They have a heart.
01:08:35America has lost all sense of value for human life at all, you know, with abortion and now with this thing, Nancy.
01:08:44I don't know how in the hell I got picked for this.
01:08:56They must think somebody must have a lot higher expectations of me than I have.
01:09:05I don't know if it was fate or God or who, but whoever, he must have thought, boy, that's a cool dude down there.
01:09:14I'll have him go through all this crap.
01:09:18Let me have my daughter back and they can have all this stuff.
01:09:23I'll go home and prop my feet up in front of the television and watch the evening news without seeing cruzanne splashed all over it.
01:09:35I'll go home and prop my feet up in front of the television.
01:10:05I'll go home and prop my feet up.
01:10:07I'll go home and prop my feet up.
01:10:08I'll go home and prop my feet up in front of the television.
01:10:12Yes.
01:10:28You can be the light, would you like to?
01:10:31Private.
01:10:34See what she's doing.
01:10:36Okay.
01:10:37Why leave for the day?
01:10:38Okay.
01:10:39I want my change from this morning.
01:10:41I can't see much from yesterday.
01:10:56No changes yet?
01:10:57No changes yet.
01:10:58I was wondering, will she probably go into a true coma at some point?
01:11:04Possibly.
01:11:05It's possible.
01:11:06But not necessarily.
01:11:08Not necessarily.
01:11:08But I would say that she becomes less and less responsible with the passage of time in the sense of the word responsive, meaning that, you know, she won't wake up at night.
01:11:25Right, right.
01:11:26So, yeah.
01:11:27Okay.
01:11:28Up here to sleep more.
01:11:30Yeah.
01:11:30I just saw a couple of local stations come in, so they're probably getting ready to do something.
01:11:58Yeah, they have a prayer meeting scheduled here in about 12 or 13 minutes, a spontaneous prayer meeting for her.
01:12:11Lord Jesus, if we can see this intervention, and we can see this whole type of mindset stopped, or at least, Lord, slowed down.
01:12:22It shook up.
01:12:23Shake up Satan's kingdom today, Lord.
01:12:25Oh, Jesus.
01:12:26Rise with mighty power.
01:12:28Shake up Satan's kingdom.
01:12:29Shake up Satan's kingdom.
01:12:31For a king.
01:12:31For a monkey region.
01:12:32In the name of Jesus.
01:12:33Bring our nation back to God, Father.
01:12:36Humble us and break us.
01:12:37Forgive the professing Christians for being so cold and heartless and stupid.
01:12:42Oh, God, hear our voice and intervene by the power of the Spirit of God.
01:12:46Glory to God.
01:12:47Work a miracle on her behalf and turn our hearts back to him.
01:12:50Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:12:53Whatsoever we ask.
01:12:55Jesus.
01:12:56I think what is happening is that the employees, as well as maybe even the people in town,
01:13:03are feeling like we're being attacked by all these people coming in.
01:13:08And that means that we band together a little closer and try to take care of each other.
01:13:15It's affecting everyone.
01:13:29One of the gals that works here, she's not a nurse.
01:13:31She told me of a dream that she had last night, and this one struck me as oddly symbolic.
01:13:38She said she dreamed that she was walking with Nancy.
01:13:44Nancy was with her.
01:13:46And she was telling this girl that she liked to walk at night.
01:13:52And that's what she did.
01:13:53She would get out at night and walk.
01:13:56And this lady asked her, well, why do you walk at night?
01:14:00And she said, well, I'm trying to get used to my new way of life.
01:14:05I'm trying to get a new perspective on my life.
01:14:08You know, I'm tired of the sharp objects and things that hurt me.
01:14:14I had a dream about Nancy the other night.
01:14:19I woke up in the middle of the night, and she was talking to her mother.
01:14:25And the thought ran through my head that, oh, my goodness, wouldn't that be terrible if something like that happened?
01:14:35Well, that's basically a nightmare, so to speak.
01:14:39So, I wouldn't have thought that that would happen, but then.
01:14:46I wonder later on if I'd be able to sleep at night.
01:14:59Wondering what's inside Nancy.
01:15:01You know, she may not have a viable body that can get up and do what you and I do and be socially productive.
01:15:07But she has a spirit.
01:15:08She has a part of her that will never die.
01:15:14And I wonder if that part is ready.
01:15:20The hardest part has been deciding how much blame I have,
01:15:29how much moral responsibility I have from being in charge of the whole thing.
01:15:34What part am I playing in her death?
01:15:43Am I causing it?
01:15:46Should I have stopped it?
01:15:50I couldn't have, I don't have the authority and the power to have totally stopped it.
01:15:56I could have slowed it down.
01:15:57I could have gotten myself out.
01:15:59But somebody else would have come in and done it.
01:16:01So, my moral dilemma, I suppose, is, how far should I have gone?
01:16:13And I still don't know.
01:16:14I would like to see you in a funny story.
01:16:24I would like to talk to you in a few minutes of otrasии.
01:16:26I don't know.
01:16:28Because of your mind, I don't know.
01:16:31I want to see you in a long run.
01:16:34I've waitedаны, I've waited for you.
01:16:37I've waited for you.
01:16:38Dr. Davis did say this morning that he thought Nancy's condition had, was serious now.
01:17:07However, he didn't feel like it was critical at this point, but he said if her condition deteriorated as much in the next 24 hours as it has in the last 24 hours, that it probably would be critical, or if it continues to deteriorate, it'll be fatal.
01:17:37The closer it gets, the more we want to draw together around her.
01:17:46We don't, you know, and I'm not putting the preachers down, but we don't need the preachers. We don't need the spectators or the this, that, or the news media or anyone else. That we can pull together and we can, we'll take care of her.
01:18:04I am so thankful that I don't, that there were no harsh words or unkind things said that, that, that weren't resolved or anything.
01:18:15Because I know that would be easy for that to happen in something like this. If I'd only not said, I wish I hadn't said that. I wish I could take that back or, but, but I don't have any of those and I'm, I'm real glad for that.
01:18:33It's made me want to be more like Nancy. I don't know why. I don't know if, because, you know, people cared about her so much, you know, and, and I don't know, it may, I, it feels like I want to, I want to be her replacement.
01:18:51I want, I want people to care about me as much as they cared about her.
01:18:55I think, in a way, Nancy's sort of given us something here. She's given us, I mean, we've had to grow, we've had to grow up a lot faster. But we've also learned a lot about life in these past seven years.
01:19:12We've, we've, we've learned a lot about how people have to live, about pain you have to go through. And that things aren't always, um, given to you on a silver platter. And things happen. And everything doesn't turn out the way you want it to.
01:19:32So in a way, Nancy hasn't been here, but she's been giving us something all this time.
01:20:02Her heart rate slowed down some, it's 160. And her breathing is about 44 minutes, which is faster.
01:20:15Okay.
01:20:17But, let's take a look at her collar again.
01:20:25Look, her fingers are more relaxed.
01:20:27Mm-hmm.
01:20:28Oh my gosh.
01:20:29Look at that.
01:20:30I don't know.
01:20:31I don't see my back.
01:20:32No.
01:20:33Uh-uh.
01:20:34She's, um, she's sweating now.
01:20:37Yeah.
01:20:38Something she hasn't done.
01:20:39Either she's breaking the temperature, she's getting a higher one.
01:20:43Let me go get the temperature.
01:20:46And we'll check that.
01:20:48What, what is the fact that she's respiring now?
01:20:52What, what, what might it be?
01:20:54Um, it could be that her heart is starting to give up now.
01:20:58Okay.
01:20:59Okay.
01:21:00Okay.
01:21:01Well, I've got to go now, so I'm gonna go get her forward.
01:21:05Okay.
01:21:06We're gonna pass these things on.
01:21:08Um, in case I don't see you.
01:21:11Well, let's take a look at you again.
01:21:15Mm-hmm.
01:21:16You've been so great at all.
01:21:17You guys are wonderful people.
01:21:19I'm so glad I had the opportunity to get you in here, just for a little bit.
01:21:24If I can see you again, I hope I do.
01:21:25Okay.
01:21:26I hope I do, but you know what I mean.
01:21:27You know what I mean.
01:21:28Right.
01:21:29Mm-hmm.
01:21:30And if I don't buy for me, I will.
01:21:31Okay.
01:21:32Well, thank you.
01:21:33You've been able to help.
01:21:34Yeah.
01:21:48Somehow, somehow I think she's- it's all okay.
01:21:52It's like, I think she knows you.
01:21:56The condition deteriorated through the day, Christmas Day, and considerably after about
01:22:21five o'clock.
01:22:22And I went in and laid down, I think, about midnight, and about one o'clock, Joyce called
01:22:35me and said that her breathing had seemed more labored, and I went in there, and we were
01:22:46in a room with her from then until she died at 246, 247, December the 26th, very, very peaceful.
01:22:59And I was holding her head kind of in my arms, and Joyce and Christy were there, and she
01:23:10just, her breathing became slower and slower and fainter and fainter.
01:23:15And we all knew that finally it just stopped.
01:23:26Joyce said this morning, we can all go home together.
01:23:28And I felt that, thank God, she's free.
01:23:41I don't know what I think about the afterlife, but whatever it is, she's happy, she's having
01:24:00fun, she's real proud of all of us, and she's keeping an eye on us all the time.
01:24:13I don't know exactly what there is, if there's a heaven, I'm sure she's probably already there.
01:24:19I have a feeling that she's been there for a long time, her soul, her spirit.
01:24:25I hope she'll be at peace, or in heaven, or whatever, at rest.
01:24:32I don't know if I'll ever see Nancy again or not.
01:24:39I don't know what's going to happen after we die.
01:24:43But to me, the most important thing was that we had her for those 25 years.
01:24:49And regardless of what people say about me, of what they think of my motives, or whatever
01:24:58happens, no one can ever take that 25 years from me.
01:25:19I want you to be improved, especially if I don't know what I did for those 25 years from me.
01:25:31I can't believe that I'm very impressed by my motive as a message.
01:25:37I love you.
01:25:39I love you.
01:25:39I love you.
01:25:41I love you.
01:25:41I love you.
01:25:43I love you.
01:25:43I love you.
01:25:44You love you.
01:25:45I love you.
01:25:45I love you.
01:25:46I love you.
01:26:47For video cassette information about this program, please call this toll-free number, 1-800-328-PBS1.
01:26:55This is PBS.
01:27:01Next time on Frontline, an Iraqi exile's secret journey to post-war Iraq, and a horrifying paper trail that tells the fate of more than 100,000 missing Iraqi Kurds.
01:27:16We want to know two things. First of all, what happened to these people? Are they killed or not? Second, if they are killed, let's know where are they.
01:27:25Saddam's Killing Fields, next time on Frontline.
01:27:29For a printed transcript of this or any Frontline program, send $5 to Journal Graphics Incorporated, 1535 Grant Street, Denver, Colorado, 80203.
01:27:47To order by credit card, call 303-831-9000.
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