a) What facts and what precedents or legal principles might a court consider critical to determining whether physicians can legally turn off the LVAD device?

b) Is an LVAD, once implanted, a part of the patient or the patient's organ; or is it, like a ventilator, a form of life support that is routinely discontinued in accordance with the patient's wishes? How important to the court's decision on this issue is the goal of implantation to allow the patient to go home?

c) If you were the hospital administrator at the facility in which Mr. P had the device implanted, would you support the readmission of Mr. P for the purpose of disabling the device and providing comfort care?