Here’s the scenario: You are writing your medical directive to give advance instructions on what treatments to apply or withhold in situations where you are no longer able to make those decisions consciously. You are writing the line:
“In the case that two certified physicians determine that I am in a Persistent Vegetative State with no hope of recovery, …”
and must decide how to complete the sentence.
POLL:
Do you write something closer to:
A) I direct that every reasonable effort be made to maintain my life functions.
Or
B) I direct that no artificial means of maintaining my life functions be employed.
I’ll give you what I have in my Health Care Proxy/Advance Directive:
Anyone with feelings in this area should take time to fill out an Advance Directive/Health Care Proxy/Living Will in the form specified in their state. This website has links to state forms.
There are ususally two aspects of this, one is to appoint a person to make health care decisions for you if you are incapacitated, and the other is to express what you want to have happen if you are in a permanently incapacitiated condition. You can fill out forms that cover either or both of these issues.
The huge conflicts that have arisen in the Terri Schiavo case would have been avoided if she had clearly expressed her wishes in a form prescribed by law prior to her incapacity.
B is awfully harsh and absolute but my answer is closer to B than A. I can certainly see situatoins where I would want steps taken to maintaim my life for a period of time but if it meant being on a ventilator with little or no hope of recovery I would not want to be maintained that way. The closest I have come to having to face that decision was when my grandfather was in the hospital with pneumonia and his condition was deteriorating. Fortunately my grandmother and the family members involved were in agreement that he would not want to be on life support and his doctor issued a DNR order.
Of the two my choice is B, although I like Billdo’s answer better. I have had the care of my aged stepmother for several years, and she is now at a point where she doesn’t recognize me or remember my late father, to whom she was married for almost 30 years. She has an advance directive saying “no heroic measures,” but she can still feed herself and is in good physical health for a 97-year-old. I would wish to die before I ever get to that point, but I certainly would want to have the plug pulled if I were reduced to being alive only in the sense of a plant. IMO the people trying to keep Ms Schiavo alive are thinking more about themselves than they are about her. For pity’s sake, they should let her go.
Closer to B. If I have a terminal illness, Do Not Resuscitate but food/water is OK. If permanently comatose, DNR and no food/water. (I have a house plant that follows the sun and closes at night. If I’m not more responsive than a houseplant, I do not want to be here.)
Absolutely B. Since the thing that gives me greatest joy in life is being able to communicate with others, if I can’t, I don’t want to keep living. And that’s exactly when I’d most need to communicate this information, isn’t it?
I’ve just put it in writing. It never occured to me at 30 years old that I needed to do such things (isn’t that for Old People?) until I was on the operating table with an emergency C-section. Obviously, it’s pretty low risk as surgeries go, but not zero risk. And to add to my husband’s obvious stress and worry about both me and the baby, THAT was the moment I had to say, “Oh, and Honey? If this all goes terribly awry and they need to plug me into machines to keep me alive while I have the brain function of a lizard? Don’t want that. Thanks!”
:smack:
Please, talk to your SO over dinner tonight. It might not be pleasant, but it will be a lot more unpleasant if you have to have that conversation at the last minute, or, Og forbid, don’t get to have it at all.
And put it in writing, just in case, Og forbid, your other family members disagree (a la Schiavo) or your SO is incapacitated at the same time as you.
Yep, that’s my plan now. About a year ago, a sister-in-law’s long-term boyfriend (we basically consider them as good as married, but of course that has no legal standing, as Illinois does not have common-law marriage) was suddenly in the ICU with liver failure, and the doctors said to call all his relatives because they thought he wouldn’t live. He’d been estranged from his parents for many years, but they were called, and my SIL could well have found herself in a situation where they claimed control over his health care even though their son hadn’t spoken to them for years. What a nightmare. Fortunately, they didn’t, but it could have been terrible for her.
Put me down for B, too. A friend of mine has just sent me a living will form. Even though my family and friends share my views on not wanting extreme measures, I’m still filling it out. I may also include a codicil that all politicians are to be kept out of any decisions involving my medical care.
My medical directive includes option B. But I am thinking about including Governor Quinn’s one month rule. I also may include Siege’s “no politicians” codicil. Thanks for the ideas.
i’m completely conflicted about it. I have no wish to suffer or linger horribly or be a burden to those who love me…but I have major issues with death. I really, really, really do not want to die.
So I’m kinda stuck right now.
(And I know, its not logical, it’s just a gut thing. I have been deeply distressed about the fact of death since I first found out about it as a kid. I’m working on it.)
My sister filled out a very elaborate medical directive, somethinglike 4 pages of scenarios. And she was clear as a bell…in every single scenario offered, she answered: “Let me die”. So when the second stroke took away her ability to swallow, that’s exactly what we did. no feeding tube, stopped hydration after a few days and confirmation from her via nods and blinks that she wished it to be so, took her home and held her while she passed quietly and peacefully, with the assistance of morphine patches.
Judging from my sister’s passing, I’d say Terri isn’t long for this world.
That is the reason I started this poll. I had a hunch that most people by far would want something closer to B for themselves. So far no one in the poll has chosen A(although Stoid is conflicted). Extrapolating to the US Congress, I would guess that they, too, would overwhelmingly choose B for themseleves, yet they favor A for someone else.
And just having an advance directive isn’t enough. It needs to be in your chart at the doctor’s office, hospital / nursing home / hospice care, and in the posession of whoever you’ve designated as your agent. Ideally, your family will also know of its existence and who your agent is.
I’ll be the one. I’ve had this discussion many times IRL, and especially over the past few days. I choose A. I just really, really value life, especially my life, and I can’t be the one to say, “O.K., this quality is not good enough for me.” Nor can I put a monetary value on my life or its quality.
At one point, I favored A for everyone, mostly because I felt that once you allow B, the emotional and financial pressure to choose that option becomes enormous. Look at this thread – everyone is choosing B, and it’s awfully hard to stand against that.
However, I long ago came to the conclusion that this should be a choice. That means that I should be allowed to choose to live, and others should be allowed to choose to die. As long as individuals are as free as possible to make either choice, I support their right to choose. In the case of Terry Schiavo, I believe that she did make choice B, and that her wishes, and her wishes alone, should be respected.