"Some would say there is a fine line between the withdrawal of treatment and active euthanasia.

Withdrawal of treatment, even if lifesaving, is morally and legally permitted.

Relaxation or withdrawal of treatment before mid-childhood has been associated with a further decline in intellectual ability.

There was no rebound effect following withdrawal of treatment, but a gradual return to pre-treatment bowel movement frequency should be expected.

Missouri requires that evidence of the incompetent's wishes as to the withdrawal of treatment be proved by clear and convincing evidence.

Ethical problems: Withdrawal of treatment in the withdrawal design can at times present ethical and feasibility problems.

Indeed, "brain death" legislation embodies no novel scientific verity; it simply sanctions withdrawal of treatment from a patient who, barring a miracle, will not recover.

To investigate the effect of withdrawals, we repeated t tests at the end of treatment using the last available assessment before withdrawal of treatment.

Questions over the withdrawal of treatment have become more common, and more urgent, as improved technology has made it easier to keep alive the patients who are severely injured, disabled or comatose.

But calling the statement "our first word, not our last word," the panel acknowledged that Catholic teaching had not reached definite conclusions on all the moral questions surrounding withdrawal of treatment.

Yet, for those who are innocent of all, except the crime of being needy, we now set about executing them, through cold, hunger and the withdrawal of treatment for their ailments.

I have always understood there to be a fine line between letting someone die by withdrawing or even denying medical treatment, and terminating a life, which implies not just withdrawal of treatment, but also active intervention to end the life.

A 1981 judgment by New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, in effect allows the withdrawal of treatment from patients who cannot speak for themselves, provided there is "clear and convincing evidence" that this would be their wish.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, in its submission, recommended that a public debate be started around the options of "non-resuscitation, withdrawal of treatment decisions, the best interests test and active euthanasia" for "the sickest of newborns".

He was provided with details of the medical evidence and asked to consider whether, given that evidence of her medical condition, withdrawal of treatment other than palliative care would be in accordance with the statement on this issue by the former Pope in April 2004.