| Description |
One of the foundational tensions of modern societies is that of group rights versus the rights of individuals. In western societies such as the United States, this tension is at the heart of legal codes and the legal process. It is seen in legal battles involving the right of death-row inmates to refuse life-saving hydration and nutrition. Courts have been inconsistent in defending this right on behalf of death-row inmates, but have universally upheld this right for terminally ill, mentally competent patients. This paper concerns the State's right to force-feed death-row inmates. It argues that based on a comparison of Collette and Windt's 1985 study of the elderly and interviews of death-row inmates conducted for this paper, both populations face an imminent death and, are therefore, legally comparable. |
