I thought it was appropriate to talk about End of Life for the last blog in this Health Care Ethics class. There are many issues that we could talk about, from abortion to death with dignity. Surely in the news you have read about doctors who in the name of beneficence perform "mercy killings", patients in Oregon have the ability -after jumping through many loopholes- of requesting to end their life.
Where does the Hippocratic Oath fit? Should it be revised? Is it all encompassing? As I discuss this with my family and friends, I have heard many different arguments both in favor and against this topic. The only thing that pretty much everyone agrees on is that in the end, it should be the patient who decides. And even when the patient does not have a voice, the health care surrogate should try to represent the interests of the individual to the best of their knowledge.
Finally I want to talk about the importance of a living will. A living will is a document that lists your wishes in case you are not able to make a decision about your life. To put bluntly, it is a legal document that will serve as a your decision, in case you do not want to be resuscitated or if you do not want to be hooked up to life support if you are brain dead. It can be very detailed, and you can specify treatment that you do not want performed on you and it could also include specific instructions about organ donation. It is free and once again, to be respected by any court. I bring this up, because its important to take the burden away from your family. No one wants to be responsible for the decision of taking some one off life support, and by having this document you can take the burden away from your spouse or your parents. This holiday season, talk to your family, ask them how they feel about a tough situation like the one Terry Schiavo was in. Tell them how you feel, and you might be surprised by their res ponce. Take responsibility of your life, and if the unthinkable happens, don't leave them with that responsibility.
Florida Living Will
1 comment:
Yes and yes!
However: ought not our goal be to die peacefully? Most of us say we want to--and few of us experience it.
How does one actually manifest the option to die in peace? Once your patient-family enters (usually unexpectedly) the crucible of a terminal hospitalization, it's essentially too late. Once caught up in end-of-life efforts to extend a life otherwise well-lived, we're snared in the hospital environment, which comes complete with its own default values. It's not a pleasant scene.
I know because I lived it twice with each of my parents. And I made a pull-the-plug decision I never thought I'd have to make, despite my folks' having all the advance planning documents and our family having had open "dining room" conversations.
There's too much ambiguity. Living Wills are abstract documents meant to control black and white scenarios. Real life is gray gray gray.
These matters can be resolved in advance. But doing so requires we understand clearly the nature of hospitalization and the nature of patient-directed dying. It takes a little reading and pondering, because so much happens by default if we don't delve into these things well in advance.
I wrote a(n award-winning) book that offers guidance about this: Notes From the Waiting Room: Managing a Loved One's End of Life Hospitalization, and I speak on these matters. Learn more at my website: www.WaitingRoomBook.com
Bart Windrum
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