Who speaks for incompetent patients? The case of Joseph Saikewicz.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in the Saikewicz case, has said that decisions to withhold or to withdraw life-prolonging treatment from terminally ill, incompetent patients must be made only by the courts. A legislative proposal made in Massachusetts would return life-and-death decisions where they belong: to family members, the attending physicians, and a medical prognosis committee of the hospital.