E.E., an adult, was in a car accident in 1992. As a result of this accident, she entered into an irreversible vegetative coma. E.E. was not clinically dead, defined as the “irreversible  cessation  of  all  encephalon  functions,” but was clinically in a permanent vegetative state (PVS). She was kept alive through force-feeding by means of …Read more

The Petitioner, an elderly woman with diabetes, filed an action of amparo against the I.N.S.S.J.P, a public entity devoted to the provision of public health insurance to retired people. She requested the judiciary to order the Respondent to provide her 100U of human insulin, reactive tape and disposable syringes, as well as the medicine “Ampliactil” …Read more

In 2002, the ASSOCIATION AGAINST HANDIPHOBIA brought this challenge to Article L. 2123-2 of the Public Health Code, which allows for a guardian judge to impose contraception, sterilization and pregnancy termination on people with mental disabilities after rigorous review. The Association claimed the law was unconstitutional, a violation of the Declaration of the Rights of …Read more

O.M. is a Mexican woman who left her newborn son in a garbage can in the municipal headquarters of Santa Clara del Cobre after having given labor in the public restrooms. The woman placed toilet paper on the newborn child’s mouth cavity and nostrils to prevent others from hearing the newborn child cry, cut his …Read more

The Court issued this decision in response to numerous petitions challenging the constitutionality of the sections of the Act CLIV of 1997 on Healthcare pertaining to the treatment of psychiatric patients, especially those with limited disposing capacity. One petitioner objected to the provision of the AH which allowed a therapist to use the assistance of …Read more

H, a young woman who suffered from Down’s syndrome and was severely mentally disabled, lived with her mother, BL, who was deeply distrustful of the health authorities. When her BL fell ill and H’s behaviour became increasingly disturbed H was formally admitted to hospital for assessment under section 2 (allowing mandatory commitment for mentally ill …Read more

The respondent Starson was a physicist who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had intermittently received treatment in various mental institutions in the United States and Canada. Historically, he had used medication to regulate the condition. However, the side effects dulled Starson’s mind, and he refused further treatment, despite being informed his condition would deteriorate …Read more

Doris Fabiola Reinoso Barroso was the daughter of Esteban Reinoso (the Plaintiff) a Colombian Petroleum Company (the Respondent) pensioner, who enjoyed medical assistance services covered by the Respondent. Although she was an adult, Ms. Barroso was listed as a beneficiary of the Plaintiff on these medical assistance services, as her paranoid schizophrenia meant that she …Read more

Applicants were two Finnish Nationals, a mother (K.) and her cohabitant (T.). K., a diagnosed schizophrenic, had a history of hospitalization. At the time K. and T. began cohabitating in 1991, K.’s daughter (P.) and son (M.) were living with her. The children had different fathers, neither of whom was T. In 1992, custody of …Read more

The Applicant, Mr Wilibald Rudolf Matter, had been undergoing psychiatric treatment for twenty years for a continually worsening syndrome of dementia. As a result, the Čadca District Court restricted his legal capacity in 1976, and later in 1983 deprived him of all legal capacity on the ground that he suffered from an “explosive and vexatious form …Read more