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No code does not mean 'no care'...the issue is the goal of the care being delivered.

Comfort care alone vs. going all out full court press with pressors, intubation, chest compressions, etc. Where problems arise is when there is a diffence in goals of care for a loved one between family and physicians...in which case communication needs to be improved...this does not mean that one should not have a 'living will'.

Also, Living Will does NOT equal No Code...they are two very different documents and are often confused.

If I have a living will and God forbid suffer a MI, I WANT to be treated...It is only if I suffer severe anoxic/hypoxic brain injury that I want my wife to step in and stop unhelpful medical interventions. As you know we can keep patients alive years and years with no hope for neurologic recovery...I do NOT want that done to me and I would think (and this is supported by various surveys) that most people do not want that done to them and want the choice to stop medical interventions.

I apologize, I did not mean to question your experience by my 'ill informed' comment, but this issue has been horribly misrepresented by the Press, Congress, Talking Heads, and many on this and other Boards.

Judging by the way you write, I am assuming that we are about the same age.

We came up in a generation that had respect for life.

I am not being very adroit in explaining there is a huge difference between the care you get from a older nurse than you get from a younger one.

Younger nurses are very skilled and knowledgeable about the science and art of nursing. There is something lacking in many of them as humans.

A nurse 25 year old, has never lived in a world where abortion was not available on demand. They have only lived in a world where the enlightened Europeans were practicing euthanasia. Since schools of nursing are in "liberal" institutions even in nursing they are indoctrinated.

I know the difference between a Living Will, A No Code, What an advanced directive is.

The average age of a nurse is 50. Increasingly , the old fossils like me are leaving nursing and the youngsters are taking over.

I am fearful now of the quality of care in hospitals. I am dreadfully afraid of what it is going to be like in 20 years when I am in the group of retired.

My best advice. Get your living will and keep it secret from the hospital. Give it to your spouse, your lawyer, your neighbor, but not the hospital.

If the time comes where it is actually called for, then bring it out.