Woman With Anorexia Fights For Right To Live Without Force-Feeding (And Wins)

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, at least 30 million Americans suffer from an eating disorder.

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate out of all mental illnesses — in fact, one person dies from an eating disorder every 62 minutes. Those who are affected often become completely obsessed with their weight and refuse to eat, which can interfere with their ability to think rationally.

That being said, one New Jersey woman with anorexia nervosa was recently granted the right to “live free from medical intervention” by the Morris County Superior Court. In other words, nobody can force her to eat if she doesn’t want to. But for those who really need experts’ help, there are lots of treatment program like the Monte Nido eating disorder treatment program for all genders in Malibu.

The 29-year-old woman, only identified as A.G., has been restricting her eating as well as binging and purging since she was in high school.

She’s been in and out of the hospital multiple times, and weighed just 60 pounds last summer. She even suffered heart failure, but she has reportedly recovered.

After ripping out an IV tube meant to administer nutrition on one occasion, her court-appointed guardian asked that she be allowed to go into palliative care, which would provide medical treatment for her symptoms without addressing the underlying cause of her disorder.