I dont know what we can do, for those who have no one to speak for them...so in that sense, you are right, there does need to be some law, to assure that the correct thing is being done for them...
I will tell you this...whenever an elderly person comes into a nursing home, they have to make a declaration, as to whether or not they want a DNR...now, if they are competent at the time, the nursing home will have them make that decision....usually the whole matter of what a DNR entails is explained, in usually quite graphic details...and then the person and his family make a decision, and sign papers making their wishes known...
I do know, in the nursing homes where I have worked, almost all elderly residents do have a DNR posted in their medical files...the elderly resident who does not have a DNR is the rarity...
And in that case, may sane people prevail, not wild-eyed idealogues on either side. I'm very intent that those expressing ~no~ understanding or common sense on threads like these be kept from running the show.