Long Goodbye: The Deaths of Nancy Cruzan

by William H. Colby

As the trial over her fate rages in a stately old courtroom in southwestern Missouri, the unmistakable voice of Ted Koppel tells the nation about Nancy Cruzan— "This is, at one and the same time, one of the simplest and one of the most complicated stories with which we have ever dealt." Long The Deaths of Nancy Cruzan follows an ordinary family’s extraordinary journey to the United States Supreme Court. The book looks behind the scenes at the painful human cost exacted in a highly public legal battle. It is the true story of an American tragedy—a tragedy that could visit any of us in an instant. On a black January night Nancy Cruzan’s 20-year-old Rambler flies off the road and travels the length of two football fields before flipping to a stop. Nancy is thrown out face down on the cold ground, apparently dead. But not quite. Five years later, Nancy has not emerged from her coma, and her family makes the grim request that the state hospital remove Nancy’s feeding tube, which the family authorized years before when hope remained. But the state refuses, and the battle begins. Before the battle is over, powerful forces in society will team up to oppose the family—including the Missouri Attorney General, Missouri Governor John Ashcroft, United States Solicitor General Ken Starr, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Near the end, protestors from around the country converge on Missouri, and attempt to storm the hospital. Their fight reaches its climax, and resolution, shortly after midnight on a bitter cold Christmas Day. This blue-collar family keeps one goal from! beginning to end – trying to do what they know in their hearts their loved one would want them to do. In the process, they help to raise the consciousness of a nation, and "free countless Americans of some of the fears attending death," according to the New York Times.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Claudette Guay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very long drawn out. So many characters to keep track of. Glad of the ending glad I also read the Epilogue.

[Karen Koppy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this several years ago. Very good book about the ethics and law re: vegetative state.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a hard book to read, because of the subject matter (the death of Nancy Cruzan, who was injured in an automobile accident and was brain dead, yet her family was unable to discontinue life support without a protracted legal battle).

It was, however, very well written. The Cruzan case was a landmark in medical ethics, and the heartbreak her family went through was mind-numbing and ultimately destroyed her father.

It's not a book I would normally have picked, but I participate in a palliative care book club, and it was one of the choices. Although I already have a living will, it reinforced how important it is to document one's preferences for care at the end of life. If you read this, and don't have such instructions for your family, please take the time to make your choices and set them in writing.

[kathy daily · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a wonderful written sad book. nancy had a car accident and was dead but revived at the scene. she was in a comatose vegatative state. she was not on a resperater but had a feeding tube. the state they lived in was missouri in the spring of 1987 and there was not a right to die law. this is the long story of the legal fight for 8 years of trying to remove her feeding tube. tthe case went to the state supreme court and back to the united stated supreme court. the legal and medical battle and the devastation it creates is clearly written and very sad. the parents new what nancy would have wanted. and many people made suffered greatly to accomplish this.

[Moxie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author was my Law and Bioethics teacher in law school. His book is about his involvement as a young attorney with the Nancy Cruzan right to die case in Missouri in the late '80s. Its a wonderful read both about the legal efforts it took for her family to win the right to take her off of life support, but also does an excellent job of reminding us lawyer-types that every precedent-setting case has a real-life person behind it.

[Kathy Sebesta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note the subtitle: The Deaths of Nancy Cruzan. That's plural, death*s*. Nancy had a car wreck in the early 80s and wound up in a persistent vegetative state for years. This is the story of how her family's torment as they gain the right to discontinue her tube feedings and let her die. Her gravestone says it all: Born, Departed, At Peace. Three separate dates. The author is the lawyer who spent nearly ten years of his life desperately seeking peace for Nancy and her family.

[Wendi Seiler · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I've read this book but I think about it all the time. It happened in my home town so of course I had a personal connection to it. But everyone should read it. It's thought provoking and SO important that your wishes on how you would want to live after a brain injury are known to your family. Beautifully tragic story.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written by the lawyer who represented the Cruzan family in the late 80s. You learn a lot about the legal process with such a controversial subject (the right to die). The heartbreak this family had to go through not just the night of the horrible car accident, but the 8 years of their loving daughter/sister in a vegetative state...so sad.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not often a fan of this kind of book--it's nonfiction about a lengthy court battle. But Colby does a good job of telling the story, and it's a pretty dramatic one, which brings up a lot of questions about prolonged life support, pre-Terry Schiavo.

[Marian Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

important thoughtful non-fiction

[Leila Summers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in two days. It should have been a bestseller!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a tragically devastating book. I could not imagine being in that horrific situation. My heart goes out to the family. And I'm now certain to get a living will.

[Marti]

I can't imagine going through all this.