Absolutely.
Is paraplegia "severe"? Yes it is, until you end up in your own wheelchair...
No, it's severe. Remember that for the living will to take effect, the subject also has to be unable to make his own decision. So, he's incompetent AND in a wheelchair.
Is aphasia and having your IQ knocked down to 40 "severe"? You bet
Absolutely, without question.
...until we find out first hand if our brain is still helping us to find joy and pleasure in the love and care of our family, and how it feels to be unable to tell the world to just let our family keep us comfortable and safe and leave us alone as long as we can feel and give love
No, that can be your 'living will', but in mine I definitely want to die. Take away food, water, oxygen, whatever. Put me out of my misery.
Right - your version would be different to mine.
It is the decision of the ill one that counts - not the judge, not the euthanasia proponents, not the children, the wife. And, the state should not over-rule the specified instructions in the Living Will.
Yet, they will. All they will have to do is make a law over-riding a living will. Or, get the option that a doctor can over-rule the living will if needed. Which may already be done in Fla. according to the following.....
"They also state that advanced directives providing for treatment should not carry the same weight as directives withdrawing care, and advanced directives should not compel the physican to provide them, regardless if the patient needs them (Doty). Doty is part of the Florida Bioethics Network as well as Project Grace. One of the changes in the law in CB/CB/SB 2228 includes the Bioethics Network as part of the process of withdrawing care. "