Court Opinion

ID: 9740959
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:45:57.158275+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:21.202709
License: Public Domain

Nolan, J.
(dissenting). A person is not obligated to take extraordinary means to prolong his life and, therefore, persons acting in behalf of others who are faced with such a decision are not required to invoke extraordinary means.
However, the court again has approved application of the doctrine of substituted judgment when there is not a soupcon of evidence to support it. The trial judge did not have a smidgen of evidence on which to conclude that if this child who is now about five and one half years old were competent *199to decide, she would elect certain death to a life with no cognitive ability. The route by which the court arrives at its conclusion is a cruel charade which is being perpetuated whenever we are faced with a life and death decision of an incompetent person. See Guardianship of Doe, 411 Mass. 512, 525-530 (Nolan, J., dissenting).
I dissent.