8mm
Think I’ll take my chances with the living will. After all I know what my wishes are.
It comes as no surprise that they “legally” killed an alert man over the objections of his wife. Living Wills are a death sentence.
Don't do one. Your chances of being brought back go down to zero, and things they do to you in the hospital that hasten your bad circumstance hasten your death. And untrustworthy, greedy relatives are the ones who most want to enforce the will’s terms when circumstances really blur how, or even, if, it should be enforced.
Pro-Life ping
The author makes a good point about “Living Will” as a document where Medical Power of Attorney is probably the better way to go. However:
>Is the artificial extension of life through modern technology really the issue? Then why is it that the issue is almost always feeding tubes and ventilators?
Why? Because if the quality of my life is basically that of a piece of meat lying on a bed getting pumped with nutrients and someone wiping me down every day, month after month, there is no way I want that. I also don’t want that for my family to endure. And guess what, many MANY people don’t want that either. Yes, I am Catholic. Sorry, but my husband knows this and God help the person that stands in the way of our wishes to have that situation ended.
A “living will” is SUPPOSED to be an advanced directive.
As in the person says what is going to happen. Unfortunatly there are so many illiterates in the medical approval community (see insurance co.) that the mere existance of a living will is automatically assumed to be “just let the patient die.” (aka save on cost order)
Make a advanced directive that says you reject all “do not resusitate” assumptions.
I'll be appearing briefly this afternoon during the "Vocal Point" radio show on WAFG 90.3 FM in Florida, during a segment on end of life issues with fellow Christian lawyer Randy Singer. The show starts at 12:30 EDT, and I'm joining in at 1:50. The station streams live for anyone interested in listening on the web.
ping for your comment, please
I’m definitely in the minority here but I just watched my Mother die from ALS aka Lou Gehrigs Disease. She was well aware that it would kill her very slowly. She signed a living will while she still could stating that she did not want a ventilator or a feeding tube to keep her going.
I also know another person that was on a ventilator and feeding tube and totally bedridden for 8 years. His family suffered emotionally, financially, spiritually, you name it.
Which decision was the best?
Mr. Pinette wanted to die, and he did. The government doesn’t own a patient’s life, and neither does a patient’s spouse (who in this case was legally named as a surrogate to make medical decisions for him IF he could not communicate himself). Even if he had been unable to communicate, a named surrogate does not have the right to direct treatments in clear contravention of the patient’s own wishes as expressed in a living will. The outcome was exactly what Mr. Pinette wanted — that in the event of the sudden emergence of situation where he would die unless he had medical interventions that he DID NOT WANT, he would not be subjected to the unwanted interventions and would die. Many people are well aware that in a situation like this, emotionally panicked relatives may have trouble letting go, even if they intellectually know that the patient wants to be allowed to die. A living will is an effective way to deal with this problem.
As an estate planner, I always recommend the Health Care Surrogate instead of the living will.
And beware of when they ask you to ‘update your file’ at the doctor’s office. They want you to sign a living will.
And beware of signing admission papers to the hospital or day surgery center. They include a living will.
By law in Florida, a facility may not make signing a living will a prerequisite to admission, but they sure try to make you think that is the only way they will do business.
It is going from a right to die to a duty to die.
gnip...
Our family has always believed a living will would be a mistake. We have watched it used against others. This article puts it all together. My sympathies to Mr. and Mrs. Pinette.