Barber v. Superior Court case brief

Barber v. Superior Court
147 Cal.App.3d 1006 (1983) 195 Cal. Rptr. 484

Facts:
-A patient is in a vegetative state.
-The doctors remove life support at the request of the family, including nourishment.
-The patient dies as a result.
-The doctors are charged with murder for actively killing the patient

Procedural History:
-Doctors are charged with murder for removing life support, including nourishment from a patient in a vegetative state. Doctors appeal ruling that removing life support or nourishment is murder.

Issue:
Is removing life support an act (chargeable as murder) or an omission (not chargeable if the doctors did not have a legal duty to act)?

Holding:
-Removal of life support is an omission and thus not a chargeable offense as long as the doctors had no legal duty to act. The doctors did not have a legal duty to act in this situation.

Reasoning:
Removing a mechanical device is comparable to stopping treatment that could be done manually. Thus, there is no duty for a doctor to continue treatment once it has become ineffective.
-Court decides two issues: 1) Removing life support is not an affirmative act, but an omission of further treatment (even though self-propelled); and 2) Doctor has no legal duty to continue treatment after it is futile, although they do have a duty to try to keep a patient alive initially.

Conclusion:
Case dismissed. No crime has been committed.

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