Natural Death Acts
Natural Death Acts sprang from the belief that medical Technology had made possible the artificial prolongation of patients’ lives beyond their natural limits. Another underlying assumption of the Acts was that adults in the United states have the right to control decisions about how they live their lives as well as how they die. The California Natural Death Act was one of the first in the country. Originally enacted in 1975 and revised in 1992, it authorized people to sign a declaration directing that life-sustaining treatment be with held or withdrawn should they become terminally ill or permanently unconsclous if the administration of life sustaining procedures would only prolong their dying process or unconscious condition