Christine Busalacchi

The father of a brain-damaged patient at the hospital where Nancy Cruzan was allowed to die after a court fight has been blocked from moving his daughter to a state where her feeding tube could be removed with less legal strife. Pete Busalacchi says his daughter should be allowed to die. But Don Lamkins, director of the Missouri Rehabilitation Center, contends Christine Busalacchi has mental functions and responds to commands.

The battle over Christine Busalacchi's right to die ended with her death Sunday, hospital officials said. The 22-year-old comatose woman's feeding tube had been removed. Busalacchi, who had been transferred to Barnes Hospital on Feb. 18, died there Sunday morning, the hospital said in a statement. The woman's feeding tube was disconnected after a team of neuroscientists determined that she was in a persistent vegetative state, the hospital said. It didn't say when the tube was disconnected.

The battle over Christine Busalacchi's right to die ended with her death Sunday, hospital officials said. The 22-year-old comatose woman's feeding tube had been removed. Busalacchi, who had been transferred to Barnes Hospital on Feb. 18, died there Sunday morning, the hospital said in a statement. The woman's feeding tube was disconnected after a team of neuroscientists determined that she was in a persistent vegetative state, the hospital said. It didn't say when the tube was disconnected.

The father of a brain-damaged patient at the hospital where Nancy Cruzan was allowed to die after a court fight has been blocked from moving his daughter to a state where her feeding tube could be removed with less legal strife. Pete Busalacchi says his daughter should be allowed to die. But Don Lamkins, director of the Missouri Rehabilitation Center, contends Christine Busalacchi has mental functions and responds to commands.

The Missouri Rehabilitation Center, where Nancy Cruzan died Dec. 26, was built in 1907 as a TB sanitarium. A lot of folks in the area still call it the Chest Hospital. For the week or so they were there, anti-abortion protesters called it the "Missouri Euthanasia Center." They had come to try to stop Joe and Joyce Cruzan from allowing their daughter to die. The protesters' goal was to "rescue" Nancy Cruzan. But how?

They arrived with their pup tents, their placards and their shared conviction. Before it ended, close to 100 people would come to the small southwest Missouri town of Mt. Vernon for what they said was a single purpose--to save a life. They came from Atlanta, Chicago, Kenosha, and Miami, from St. Louis and Kansas City, just as they crisscrossed the country for Operation Rescue to "stop the killing" at abortion clinics. But this time was different.