State Must Pay for Right-to-Die Suit

The state must reimburse $13,000 in legal costs to a woman who was challenged by Gov. James S. Gilmore when she tried to remove the feeding tube from her severely brain-damaged husband, a judge ruled. Circuit Judge Frank Hoss Jr. agreed with lawyers for Michele Finn, who contended that Gilmore exceeded his authority when he tried to prevent her from allowing Hugh Finn to die. Finn, 44, died Oct. 9 in a Manassas, Va., nursing home, eight days after the feeding tube that had sustained him was removed at his wife’s request. He had suffered a severe brain injury in a 1995 car crash and was in a persistent vegetative state. Under Virginia law, food and water may be withheld in such a case.