Got Court OK to End Forced Feeding : Quadriplegic Dies on 16th Day of Fast

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — A quadriplegic man who sought to die and won a court’s permission to refuse food and water died today on the 16th day of his fast.

“I do not want to suffer any more,” Hector Rodas, 34, almost totally paralyzed because of drug abuse, repeatedly told family, friends and court officials.

Dr. Robert Graves, Rodas’ physician, said he died today at about 3:30 a.m. at Hilltop Rehabilitation Hospital, which had fought Rodas’ right-to-die case in court.

Since Rodas could not swallow, food and water were administered through a feeding tube in his stomach. He had asked last June that his feeding be discontinued, but hospital officials refused to honor his request.

On Jan. 22, Mesa County District Judge Charles Buss ruled following a 13-day trial that Rodas was mentally competent, and as such had the “clear constitutional right” to refuse medical treatment.

Hilltop officials decided against appealing the decision, since it cleared them of civil and criminal liability in Rodas’ death and “provided us with the direction we needed,” attorney J. D. Snodgrass said.

Rodas, an auto mechanic and a father of two, was an illegal immigrant who went to Los Angeles in 1972 from Guatemala and moved to Grand Junction in 1978. He fought off years of deportation proceedings and also served a probation term for stealing tools. He had arrests for shoplifting and drunk driving.

He was rushed to St. Mary’s Hospital last Feb. 10 after his wife found him collapsed in their home.