Conservatorship of Drabick

I. Introduction

Petitioner David Drabick is conservator of the person of his brother William J. Drabick III, who has been comatose in a persistent vegetative state since 1983 and maintained with a nasogastric feeding tube. Citing his brother’s best interests, David Drabick sought the approval of the superior court of Santa Clara County for removal of the tube. The superior court denied the petition, and the conservator appeals.

David Drabick contends that California law authorizes the conservator of an incompetent person in a vegetative state with no hope of recovery to decide, considering medical advice and the conservatee’s best interests, that medical treatment in the form of artificial life support should be withdrawn and the conservatee permitted a natural death. We agree and thus reverse the superior court’s decision with directions to reconsider the petition in light of the principles set forth below. Our view is in essential accord with tiiat of all other states which have confronted the question.

II. Background

A. William Drabick

On February 5, 1983, William Drabick received a severe head injury in an automobile accident. In emergency care, physicians…