Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health
In 1988, Cruzan's parents asked her doctors to stop feeding her through the feeding tube.  They believed Nancy would not have wanted to live in a persistent vegetative state.  She had recently told a friend that if she got badly injured or sick, she would not want to live unless she could live "at least halfway normally."  Nancy's parents wanted her to be able to die.  However, the hospital refused to take out the feeding tube without a court order.