Opinion ID: 1144007
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: an incompetent person's right of privacy

Text: Having determined that a competent person has the constitutionally protected right to choose or reject medical treatment, we consider whether this right is lost or diminished by virtue of physical or mental incapacity or incompetence. [9] We previously determined that it is not. In John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Inc. v. Bludworth, 452 So.2d 921, 923 (Fla. 1984), this Court held that an incompetent person has the same right to refuse medical treatment as a competent person. Thus, our cases have recognized no basis for drawing a constitutional line between the protections afforded to competent persons and incompetent persons. Indeed, the right of privacy would be an empty right were it not to extend to competent and incompetent persons alike. In re Guardianship of Barry, 445 So.2d 365, 370 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). As we have already stated: The primary concern ... is that this valuable right should not be lost because the noncognitive and vegetative condition of the patient prevents a conscious exercise of the choice to refuse further extraordinary treatment. Bludworth, 452 So.2d at 924. Accord Cruzan ex rel. Cruzan v. Director, Mo. Dep't of Health, 110 S.Ct. at 2852 (1990) (fourteenth amendment due process liberty interest).