A 29-year-old woman in New Jersey battling a severe eating disorder was given the right to refuse forced feeding back in November and died this week, according to her attorney.
The woman was only referred to as “A.G.” in court documents and had been battling anorexia since age 5. She was admitted to the hospital last summer and only weighed 60 pounds. She refused to use a feeding tube because “she didn’t want to get fat”.
The court battle started after A.G. took out her feeding tube last summer which ended up causing heart failure. She also refused other treatment, and her court-appointed guardian sought to get her into palliative care instead of being forced to use the tube. The state argued that by doing so they would “in essence, [be] permitting A.G. to die”.
D’Alessandro said that A.G. was still supposed to “receive medication, counseling and pastoral support through her palliative care even if she no longer received the feeding tube”, but it wasn’t enough to help her overcome the eating disorder.
After A.G. passed away, her court-appointed attorney Edward G. D’Alessandro Jr. said he was happy his “client is finally at peace”. He also said it saddened him “that modern medicine and a loving, supportive family, despite all the efforts extended, weren’t able to help her overcome her illness”.