Severns v. Wilmington Medical Center, Inc.

CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Delaware
Citation421 A.2d 1334
PartiesWilliam H. SEVERNS, Plaintiff, v. The WILMINGTON MEDICAL CENTER, INCORPORATED, a Corporation of the State of Delaware; Richard S. Gebelein, as Attorney General for the State of Delaware; Martin Gibbs, M. D., and the Board of Medical Practice of the State of Delaware, Defendants.
Decision Date23 September 1980

On Certification from the Court of Chancery. Question answered.

Thomas Herlihy, III (argued), of Herlihy & Herlihy, Wilmington, for plaintiff.

William J. Wade (argued), of Richards, Layton & Finger, Wilmington, for defendant The Wilmington Medical Center, Inc.

Edward F. Kafader, Deputy Atty. Gen. (argued), Wilmington, for defendants Richard S. Gebelein, Atty. Gen. for the State of Delaware, and The Board of Medical Practice of the State of Delaware.

Martin Gibbs, M.D., pro se.

G. Thomas Sandbach (argued), Wilmington, for Mary Reeser Severns.

Before DUFFY, McNEILLY, QUILLEN and HORSEY, JJ., constituting the Court en banc.

DUFFY, Justice:

In this Certification proceeding the Court is asked to determine that the Court of Chancery has the power to order that certain life-sustaining supports for Mary Reeser Severns be removed. Implicitly, the complaint assumes that those supports sustain her life. The inevitable corollary is that, without them, Mrs. Severns will die. Thus the issue presented, no matter how it may be described, concerns actions which are expected to determine whether Mrs. Severns lives or dies.

I

Mrs. Severns, age 55, was the operator of an automobile which was involved in a one-car accident. She sustained serious injury to her brain which has significantly impaired its functioning. For all practical purposes, she has been in a coma since the accident occurred. Mrs. Severns was hospitalized at The Wilmington Medical Center after the accident and has remained there.

Her husband, William H. Severns (plaintiff) filed a complaint in the Court of Chancery for an order appointing him as guardian of her person. 1 The complaint names as defendants The Wilmington Medical Center, Dr. Martin Gibbs (the physician who attends Mrs. Severns), The Board of Medical Practice of the State of Delaware and the Attorney General. The Court of Chancery appointed G. Thomas Sandbach, Esquire, as attorney for Mrs. Severns. All defendants have appeared by counsel except Dr. Gibbs.

II

For present purposes, the parties have stipulated to certain facts which we repeat in some detail because they are helpful in placing the proceeding in context. The stipulation reads, in part, as follows:

"4. Shortly after her arrival at the Hospital, a tracheotomy was performed on Mrs. Severns by her treating neurosurgeon, Martin Gibbs, M.D. Mrs. Severns was connected to a respirator which in the beginning did the breathing for Mrs. Severns, and now assists her breathing. Drugs which helped maintain Mrs. Severns' blood pressure were administered to Mrs. Severns intravenously on December 18, 1979. Feeding was initially accomplished by intravenous methods and a catheter was put in place.

5. Since the time of her accident, Mrs. Severns has remained in a coma. The respirator remains attached. Drugs which help maintain her blood pressure have been discontinued and her body is now performing that function on its own. Occasional doses of medicine are used to control diarrhea. There is no present intent of the doctors or hospital personnel to withhold medicines which might become needed. For example, antibiotics would be used in the event of respiratory infection. Feeding is now accomplished through a naso-gastric tube. The catheter remains in place.

6. Mrs. Severns' coma is not as deep as it was shortly after her admission to the Wilmington Medical Center. Mrs. Severns is able to breathe without assistance to a degree in that she can be taken off the respirator for several hours, but she cannot be taken off the respirator indefinitely. Mrs. Severns demonstrates certain primitive reflexes. She demonstrates deep tendon reflexes such as a jerk of the lower part of the leg and foot in response to a tap of the knee. She also demonstrates the Babinski response by abnormally moving the ankle and toes in response to a scratching of the sole of the foot. Her body assumes a decerebrate position in response to a supra-orbital pressure. The right eye reacts to light and shows deviation to the right when the right ear is irrigated with ice water. In addition, Mrs. Severns demonstrates a primitive sucking reaction if her lips are touched. From the medical, neurologic point of view, the above responses do not imply that conscious, sentient brain functions exist but just that her body is capable of certain reactions without conscious awareness.

7. Mrs. Severns is not suffering and is not aware of pain or discomfort.

8. If the respirator were removed and not restored, Mrs. Severns would be susceptible to pneumonia and respiratory infections, which most persons could survive without difficulty. These infections would, if at all severe, probably be fatal to her. If the respirator were removed and not restored and no pneumonia or infection takes place, Mrs. Severns could live for months or maybe years.

9. Since there is no generally recognized treatment that may decrease the comatose state and bring Mrs. Severns closer to awareness, her recovery, if any, would be by means of the body's healing processes.

10. The injury to the upper portion of Mrs. Severns' brain is extensive. The brain functions dealing with awareness, conscious thought, memory, personality, intellectual functions and speech are contained in the upper portion of the brain.

11. The injury to the lower portion of Mrs. Severns' brain, the brain stem, has less serious consequences. The brain stem controls the primitive body functions of, among other things, breathing, blood pressure and heart rate. Mrs. Severns has demonstrated some recovery to that portion of the brain. It is possible, and quite likely, that Mrs. Severns' brain stem will, in time, heal itself sufficiently to be able to control the primitive body functions necessary for her survival.

12. The brain stem functions or the vegetative functions, by virtue of being primitive, tend to recover when injured. It is a kind of built-in survival mechanism. If a patient with a brain stem injury is kept alive long enough, there is generally a tendency to recover functions adequate for a vegetative existence. Mrs. Severns is a patient who had an injury to her brain that affected predominantly the higher levels; those levels are more susceptable (sic) to injury and less able to recover.

13. In order to determine the likelihood of the recovery of a comatose patient who has suffered injury to the brain, it is necessary to take into account, among other things, age (in as much as older people do not possess the same recovery powers as younger people), the nature and extent of the injury, the recovery made by the patient to date and the amount of time it has taken the patient to reach various states of recovery.

14. Two Wilmington area physicians, one, a highly skilled and respected neurosurgeon and the other, a highly skilled and respected neurologist, have examined Mrs. Severns and reviewed her chart. Based upon their observations, the factors listed in paragraph 13 and other relevant factors, they have reached the following determinations regarding the possibility of Mrs. Severns' recovery from her comatose state:

(a) One physician is of the opinion that within the bounds of reasonable medical certainty, Mrs. Severns will not recover those brain functions which would permit her to resume a sapient and sentient adult existence. The other physician is of the opinion that such a recovery by Mrs. Severns is not impossible, although her chances of recovery to that state are the remote probability of one in ten thousand.

(b) One physician is of the opinion that within the bounds of reasonable medical certainty Mrs. Severns will not recover those brain functions which are indicative of the mental state of a three year old person. The other physician is of the opinion that there is the remote probability of Mrs. Severns' recovery of those brain functions indicative of a mental state of a three year old of one in one thousand.

(c) One of the physicians is of the opinion that within the bounds of reasonable medical certainty Mrs. Severns will not recover brain functions indicative of a new born to a three month old child. The other physician is of the opinion that there is a reasonable medical probability of one in one hundred that Mrs. Severns will recover those brain functions indicative of a new born to a three month old child.

(d) The physician who is unable to completely preclude any hope of recovery by Mrs. Severns to sapient or cognitive existence is of the opinion that if Mrs. Severns failed to demonstrate any significant improvement within four to six months after the beginning of the coma, the probability of her recovery of a cognitive or sapient existence would diminish to zero.

15. Dr. Gibbs will continue the use of or restore the respirator to Mrs. Severns, if medically indicated unless there were an order to the contrary from a Delaware Court. Dr. Gibbs will continue the administration of medicines to Mrs. Severns as medically indicated, unless there were an order to the contrary from a Delaware Court.

16. The doctors' orders applicable to Mrs. Severns do not contain a "no code blue" order, that is, an order which would preclude the application of medical procedures and machinery in the event of an emergency or life threatening situation. Unless there were such an order by a doctor, the personnel of a hospital or other health care facility would apply to Mrs. Severns all treatment and machinery medically indicated to restore her in the event of an emergency or life threatening situation. Dr. Gibbs has indicated he will not enter a "no code...

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