Senate President Orders District Offices To Offer Living Wills

TBO.com ^ | October 23, 2003 | ALLISON NORTH JONES

[Pan_Yans Wife]

When Florida's state senators trudged uneasily into the upper legislative chamber this week to debate the hastily crafted Terri Schiavo bill, they found copies of a living will on each desk and a directive from frustrated Senate President Jim King to sign them. The forms specify what, if any, measures should be taken to keep the signers alive in the event they're comatose and unable to express those desires. King, R-Jacksonville, helped craft the state's right- to-die laws years ago, and the living will was supposed to end the kind of legal tug-of-war in the Schiavo case.

The political slugfest this week convinced King too many Floridians have forgotten the earlier, three-year legislative battle over right-to-die issues, so he is ordering every Florida Senate district office statewide to hand out living wills free to anyone requesting them. Copies also are available on the Senate's Web site.

``The unfortunate events surrounding the case of Terri Schiavo brought to light the importance of being prepared for unforeseen health complications,'' King said. ``While these type of decisions are never easy, it is better to be prepared in the event that we find ourselves in a similar situation.''

Gov. Jeb Bush also is hoping the emotional battle persuades Floridians to explore their options ahead of time, noting he and his wife, Columba, have filled out the forms.

King said the unusual circumstances of the Schiavo case cleared the way for the Legislature and governor to step in, noting he still thought it set a dangerous precedent.

``We sat in this Senate chamber trying to determine what we could do without jeopardizing legislation that is nearest and dearest to me,'' King said of the death-with- dignity law he worked three years to pass after watching both his parents struggle with terminal cancer.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

King said the unusual circumstances of the Schiavo case cleared the way for the Legislature and governor to step in, noting he still thought it set a dangerous precedent.

Interesting.

[LPM1888]

King said the unusual circumstances of the Schiavo case cleared the way for the Legislature and governor to step in, noting he still thought it set a dangerous precedent.

He is correct. This is the only good thing to come out of the idiotic Bill. Jeb Bush and Johnny Byrd should be impeached.

[Xenalyte]

More important to follow the perverted rule of law than to save a life, is that your calculus?

[dirtboy]

He is correct. This is the only good thing to come out of the idiotic Bill. Jeb Bush and Johnny Byrd should be impeached.

As opposed to the judge, who ordered what was basically a state-mandated execution on nothing more than the word of Terri's husband, whose motives were suspect? Apparently it takes a much higher burden of proof to execute a convicted murderer than it does to execute a helpless woman, and you're OK with that.

[LPM1888]

More important to follow the perverted rule of law than to save a life, is that your calculus?

How can you define what she is enduring as a life?

[Xenalyte]

Same answer as for severely retarded children - I can't define anything as a life or not. That's God's job. If He wants Terri, He will take her. He hasn't done that yet over 13 years. Perhaps she's meant to stay here awhile yet.

[LPM1888]

Here is the link for obtaining a Living Will from the Florida Senate Website (on the right and down a little ways). If you live in Florida you had better fill one out today. That's the only way you can be certain of keeping Jeb Bush and Johnny Byrd from pandering for votes over your corpse in your time of need.

http://www.flsenate.gov/Welcome/index.cfm

[CobaltBlue]

Memo to everyone who fills out a living will: I am a lawyer, not a health care provider. Before you draft a living will, please confer with your health care provider.

It is my understanding that if you put into your living will that you do not want to be rescuscitated, but allowed to die naturally, that the health care providers might not give you water unless you specify that you want it in your living will.

This was told to me by an elderly woman who watched a friend die, and the friend kept begging for water but the health care providers wouldn't give it to her.

So I put in all my living wills that the person wants to be given water, as well as narcotics and other palliative measures, not to prolong life, but so that they will not suffer.

Personally, when I was thinking the usual thoughts about being "a vegetable" and not wanting to have my life prolonged by artificial measures, I didn't think (and don't think) that a feeding tube and water are "artificial measures."

This case has caused me to think about a lot of things and I don't know the answers. Luckily I have a lot of health care providers in my family, with a lot of experience in death, from oncology surgeons to hospice nurses to ER nurses, so I will consult with them before I draft my own living will.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

ping... Florida Living Wills