Can parens patriae be used to remove life-sustaining equipment from a patient?

76. I have no doubt that the jurisdiction may be used to authorize the performance of a surgical operation that is necessary to the health of a person, as indeed it already has been in Great Britain and this country. And by health, I mean mental as well as physical health. In the United States, the courts have used the parens patriae jurisdiction on behalf of a mentally incompetent to authorize chemotherapy and amputation, and I have little doubt that in a proper case our courts should do the same. Many of these instances are related in Strunk v. Strunk, 445 S.W.2d 145 (Ky. 1969), where the court went to the length of permitting a kidney transplant between brothers. Whether the courts in this country should go that far, or as in Quinlan, permit the removal of life‑sustaining equipment, I leave to later disposition.