Has this law ever been used to discontinue nutrition and hydration per a patient's informed consent? Has it ever been used with the consent of a patient, informed or not? Or has it only been used without the patient's consent?
Within my readings, no. Not once.
Dehydration is a cruel death. Even when the body shuts down on its own -- as in the final stages of some cancers -- you want to make the patient as comfortable as possible with ice chips, damp cloths and such.
>> Has it ever been used with the consent of a patient, informed or not?
Not that I know of.
It wouldn't be a legal issue anyway. If the patient is ignorant enough to specify this death in his "living will," it will simply be done at any hospital or hospice. Nobody need phone the sheriff.
>> Or has it only been used without the patient's consent?
This was inevitably so in the high-profile cases we have looked at. Nancy Cruzan, Christine Busalacchi, and of course Terri Schiavo were all dehydrated to death on someone else's orders. It seems to be a common form of murder. You will recall that 'Grandma' Mae Magouirk almost died that way when a granddaughter with power of attorney tried to get rid of her. 8mmMauser's friend "Uncle Johnny" died in similar circumstances.
That's the whole point of the law -- to let the guardian rig out some "clear and convincing" reason to snuff an inconvenient patient. Perhaps it salves the killer's conscience, and the judge's. It shouldn't.
In California, yes it was done. The only problem was that after the courts ordered her feeding tube removed, she got hungry! Apparently her decision to eat and live was too much for her right to die attorney. He committed suicide.
Elizabeth Bouvia Scroll down about halfway.