Woman loses amputation fight

Press, 9 February 1978, Page 7

Woman loses amputation fight

NZPA Nashville; A 72-year-old spinster, ] who was admitted to hospital last month over her pro-] tests, has lost an Appeals ] Court fight to block amputa-l tion of her gangrene-infected; feet.

| The State Court of Apj peals upheld a Chancery Court order which had placed the woman, Mary Northern, in the protective (custody of welfare officials, ] thus clearing the way for 'the operation.

Welfare officials found the! elderly woman living alone I in an unheated house with; i her six cats. Her feet had. become frostbitten, and she ] burned them while trying to ]thaw them over an open fire. ; The police took her to the '! Nashville General Hospital; jon January 17, where doc-] I tors said gangrene had set! jin. They told her her feet , had to be amputated if her life was to be saved. . Miss Northern, who kicked and elbowed police on the way to the hospital, ; adamantly refused to con- ] sent to the operation and a . court-appointed attorney,

Carol McCoy, took her case! to the courts. The court said Miss Northern, who remained in l “poor but stable” condition,! refused to face the fact that: she would almost certainly! die without surgery. The judges said the elderly woman was incompetent to make a decision concerning the amputa-] tion, although she was lucid] and apparently of sound! mind generally. “For example, in the presence of this court, the'; i patient looked at her feet, land refused to recognise the! ] obvious fact that the flesh ] ] was dead, black, shrivelled,] rotting, and stinking.” their judgment said. The judges said that the’ ! state in fact had con-] istitutional power to act for; .those who are totally or; I partially incompetent. ] Miss Northern’s attorney ] contended she was declared] incompetent after she dis-1 agreed with doctors. Ms McCoy said there was a serious question as to whether a person could be competent in most, but not all areas.