Forty-one year-old Peter Cinque was in the terminal stages of diabetes. He was
blind, had lost both legs, and suffered from ulcers and cardiovascular problems
as well. He was being kept alive by a kidney dialysis machine. Then one day he
asked his doctors to stop the treatment. As a conscious, rational adult, he had
the legal right to determine what should or should not be done to his body. But
the hospital authorities refused to honour this right until he had been examined
by two psychiatrists to test his mental competence. After this, the hospital
obtained a court order that required him…
