Year: 1991
Type: article
Abstract: On January 11, 1983, Nancy Beth Cruzan, a 25 year old woman, lost control of her car as she travelled down a back road in a small town in Missouri.The car overturned and Nancy was found by a state trooper lying face down in a ditch.The trooper examined her and determined that she was not breathing.Paramedics were able to restore her breathing but estimated that her brain had been deprived of oxygen for between twelve and fourteen minutes.Nancy •remained in a coma for approximately three weeks and then progressed to an unconscious state• in which she was able to take some food by mouth.However, to ease her feeding and insure that she was ingesting enough nutrients, a gastrostomy feeding tube was surgically implanted on February 7, 1983, with the consent of her (then) husband.Although significant efforts were taken to rehabilitate Nancy following the accident, these efforts were unsuccessful.She was eventually transferred to a Missouri state hospital.Her medical condition was described as follows:
Source: PubMed
Author: Diane E Hoffmann
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1486502234