Family berates doctor for refusing to follow law and remove feeding tube from woman in a coma

Ramona Estévez, a woman aged 91 with Parkinson’s disease and in an irreversible coma after a massive stroke, died on 6 September 14 days after doctors were told by the government of the autonomous community of Andalusia to remove her feeding tube.

This is the first time that a public administration in Spain has had to intervene and force doctors to abide by the law.

Ms Estévez had repeatedly expressed her desire not to die suffering, although she had not put her wishes down in writing. The doctor attending her at the Hospital Blanca Paloma of Huelva refused to remove her feeding tube forcing her …