How To Be a Smart Hospital Patient, pt. 4
By Earl Zeller, LPN (Retired)
WE HAD TO PUT YOUR HUSBAND ON LIFE SUPPORT?
Can any of you imagine how you would feel?hearing those words about a loved one?? It begins days, weeks, maybe months of some of the most terrifying, heart-wrenching decisions any person or family has to make.? And it can tear a family apart.? There is something that everyone can do now, before there is even a hint of a problem, to make this possibility easier to handle.? But it is one of those things that relatively few people take care of because it is so unpleasant to think about.
There are forms known commonly as Advanced Directives.? These can be categorized into two main forms:
- Living Wills
- Powers of Attorney
The Living Will is an unfortunate name because it confuses many people.? IT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH WHO GETS YOUR STUFF WHEN YOU DIE.? The living will is a document that tells your doctor, your loved ones, and the courts how you feel about having your life prolonged by artificial means (respirator, tube feeding, etc.) if you become unable to make your own decisions.
You may recall the 2003 case in Florida involving the young woman who was on life support following a severe heart attack which resulted in brain damage.? She was eventually diagnosed as being in a ?persistent vegetative state? and kept alive by tube feeding.? Since she was unable to feed herself, liquid nutrition was pumped through a tube into her stomach, keeping her alive.? After 8 years, her husband petitioned the court to have her tube feedings stopped.? The woman?s family opposed the move.? The legal battle that followed made national headlines for months and the governor of Florida even got into the battle.? I don?t know about you, but I don?t think this is how I want to be remembered.? Why does it become so difficult?
For starters, given a choice, doctors will nearly always choose whatever means necessary to prolong life.? Period.? It is what they do.? It is what they are trained for and have sworn an oath to.? Next, the courts generally feel the same way.? No one wants to be responsible for deciding to end a life if there is ANY chance that a person will one day recover.? And yet, many people have very strong feelings about whether or not they want to be the one lying in the bed being kept alive by machines.? Thus, the Living Will.
Most states have laws which allow a person to fill out a form while they are still healthy enough to communicate their desires.? On the form, the person can legally declare their feelings about what measures may be used to be kept alive.? The form takes effect ONLY when you are incapable of making your own decisions and communicating those decisions to your doctor.? Even with this form, there can still be ambiguities about When and How the decision will be made for you.? It is often wise, then, to pair the Living Will with a Medical Power of Attorney or a Durable Medical Power of Attorney.
The Medical Power of Attorney tells the courts and the doctors and your family which one person has the absolute right to make decisions for you when you are incapable of making them for yourself.? This can minimize the risk of long legal battles between spouses and blood relatives.
The real questions for you come down to:
- Do you want someone else to make these decisions for you if you become incapacitated?
- Do you want them to do absolutely everything possible to prolong your life, no matter how long or how extreme?
- Who do you want making those decisions?
- Do you want to risk having that decision become the focus of a long and ugly legal battle?
If any of this is a concern to you and your loved ones, a brief conversation with an attorney is in order.? Often times the necessary forms can be obtained free of charge.? If you have never gotten around to doing anything and are faced with a hospital admission, the admissions office or social worker or chaplain services can help you get the forms filled out quickly.? Why?? Because being in the hospital increases your risk for needing the forms.? Once you are unable to make decisions because of brain damage from heart attack, stroke, anaphylactic shock, or any other cause, it is too late.? Now it?s in the hands of other people, not you.? And if you are choosing to give your Medical Power of Attorney to a spouse, family member, or friend, MAKE SURE THEY KNOW IT, AND MAKE SURE THEY KNOW YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT HOW YOU WANT TO BE TREATED.? Maybe you feel strongly that you DO want the doctors to do whatever is necessary.? The form lets you say that, too.? That way there is still no ambiguity for the doctors and the courts if someone should petition to have your life support ended.? Either way, the decision should be yours, not someone else?s.
Ecclesiastes 7:12 states ??the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.?
God?s Peace,
Earl & Diane
Source: http://www.crystalkeyinn.com/how-to-be-a-smart-hospital-patient-pt-4/
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