Mr. C. v. John Radcliffe Hospital

It is one thing to unilaterally stop life-sustaining medical treatment.  It is quite another to do so in an insensitive, secretive, or otherwise outrageous manner.  Almost all the successful United States lawsuits against healthcare providers for unilateral withdrawal were based on a tort theory of outrage or intentional infliction of emotional distress.  Similarly condemning non-transparent, non-consensual stopping of life support is a recent case from the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England.  

Mr C, had his life support machine turned off after a ‘do not attempt resuscitation’ note was made in his medical records, despite his daughter stating “expressly that the life support was not to be switched off”.   (Oxford Journal)  The case was investigated and the subject of a report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.  The hospital was ordered to pay 1000 pounds to the family.