
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 18, 1990                   TAG: 9006180057
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

"RIGHT-TO-DIE" CASE AMONG RULINGS LEFT AS COURT NEARS END

The first "right-to-die" case to reach the Supreme Court is among two dozen still awaiting decision by the justices before they embark on a summer-long recess.

The court will announce rulings twice this week, today and Thursday, and could wrap up its term next week.

The most closely watched case awaiting decision centers on the asserted constitutional right to withdraw life-sustaining medical treatment, including feeding tubes.

The parents of Nancy Cruzan, a permanently unconscious Missouri woman, want to end her life, but the Missouri Supreme Court, bucking a trend among courts nationwide, refused in 1988 to let doctors remove her feeding tube.

Also awaiting decision before the end of the term are cases on the abortion rights of young girls, the future scope of political patronage, the rights of people charged with child abuse to confront their young accusers and the validity of federal policies that favor women and minorities in awarding broadcast licenses.

The court is studying laws in Ohio and Minnesota that ban abortions for unmarried young girls unless their parents are notified beforehand.

by CNB