Minn. high court to decide end-of-life case



MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court will decide whether guardians have the legal authority to take their wards off life support.

 

The high court agreed Wednesday to review the case of Jeffers Tschumy. That means the court will for the first time in nearly 30 years revisit an end-of-life issue that could affect many of the more than 12,000 Minnesotans under guardianship who don’t have health care directives, the Star Tribune reported Saturday (http://bit.ly/1fLlSbP ).

 

The key issue is whether guardians must receive a judge’s approval to remove life support, or whether guardians already have that power.

 

Tschumy was a mentally disabled man with no family and no health care directive who had been under guardianship since 2008. He choked on food last year and was declared severely brain-damaged with little hope of recovery.

 

The Allina Health System requested that a judge allow him to be removed from life support, either by clarifying that his guardian had the right to make the decision, or by issuing an order allowing his removal from life support. District Judge Jay Quam denied the guardian’s request for sole power to make that decision, but authorized the termination of Tschumy’s life support. He died.

 

Quam wrote that guardians have a strong case to make end-of-life decisions under a state law that grants them the power to allow or withhold medical care, but he said the law does not specifically allow them to end life support. Until the Legislature decides to address the issue, he wrote, only judges or legally authorized representatives can order life support removed.

 

Last summer, the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed Quam’s ruling, reasoning that the final authority lies with guardians and that end-of-life decisions shouldn’t be dictated by the court. The appeals court relied on a 1984 Supreme Court ruling.

 

The state attorney general’s office, which weighed in with briefs supporting a mandatory judge’s sign-off, is expected to do so again before the Supreme Court.

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Minn. high court to decide end-of-life case

State court of appeals reverses ruling that prevented guardians from ordering their wards from life support

Legal guardians have the authority to order their wards to be disconnected from life support, according to a state Court of Appeals ruling Monday that said the end-of-life decision shouldn’t be dictated by the courts. 

“This supports our position that guardians don’t need to go back to court to get consent to terminate life support,” said Charles Singer, the attorney for the professional guardian appointed for Jeffers Tschumy, the man at the center of the case. “We’ve been operating under that assumption for 30 years.”

 

Monday’s decision overturns a Hennepin County District Court ruling that said end-of-life decisions are too important to be made by a guardian most likely appointed years before to handle matters of daily living.

 

Minnesota has 12,000-plus wards; the decision could affect those who don’t have health care directives in place spelling out their end-of-life decisions. It is the first time such an issue has been addressed in the state courts.

 

Tschumy, 57, was mentally disabled and living in a group home under the guardianship of Joseph Vogel since 2008. In April 2011, he choked on food and was declared severely brain damaged with little hope for recovery.

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State court of appeals reverses ruling that prevented guardians from ordering their wards from life support

Tonight on T.S. Radio: Minnesota Courts Sanction Guardian Ordered End of Life

In what has to be a predatory guardian’s wish list come true, the Hennepin County District Court of Appeals, just sanctioned the ending of inconvenient lives on behalf of the guardians.

Claiming in their opinion that the statutes somehow magically indicated that the guardians had this right as an extension of their total control of the victim, was a direct assault on the rights of families and individuals.

After reading the statutes cited by the court and their statements to the effect that they had considered all pertinent statutes, how this court concluded that a guardian had an otherwise unrecognized right to end the life of an individual, is beyond me.

Claiming this decision would be the result of consulting with family members and medical personnel, had to have been a joke. Anyone exposed to the corruption of the probate/guardian system knows that the family is immediately cut out of the picture and is not consulted about anything. In most cases, the family is not even informed of any decisions.

The Court made special mention of the notion that it might be too emotional, or financially a burden for the family, to allow the victim to continue on.

The translation for this is: The estate has been depleted by guardians, attorneys and anyone else who could get their hooks in it. Insurance has reached its limits and Medicare/Medicaid will not pay any more. 14,000 individuals have been placed under guardian/conservator status in Minnesota. The massive transfer of personal assets to the guardian from the estate of the victim, can now be brought to a final end by ending the life of the victim….. without court permission or intervention.

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Guardians Can Order End of Life Support

Court: Guardians can order end of life support

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota appeals court has ruled legal guardians can order the end of life support for their wards.

The ruling overturns a Hennepin County District Court finding that end-of-life decisions are too important to be made by the guardian alone. The appeals court disagreed, saying those decisions should not be dictated by the courts.

The case involves Jeffers Tschumy, who was mentally disabled and living in a group home. In 2011 he was declared severely brain damaged after choking on some food. A Hennepin County judge denied his guardian the right to end life support, but ordered that it be discontinued.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/30/5607678/court-guardians-can-order-end.html#storylink=cpy

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Court: Guardians can order end of life support