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Mon 1 Nov, 2004 12:24 pm
A Living Will outlines the way you want to be treated at the end of your life when you may be too feeble to articulate your own wishes and desires.
Unfortunately, some family members want to show their abiding love by running up the Medicare charges and prolonging both live and suffering.
Do you have any ideas how a Living Will can be enforced?
That is a very good question.
I have heard of people tattooing "Do Not Resuscitate" over their hearts as a kind of last-ditch effort to make sure their wants are adhered to.
Today people tend to assign health care proxies. The problem with living wills, or, at least, living wills alone, can be shown by the following example. A person might write a living will giving DNR orders, and then be brought to an emergency room after a bee sting, suffering from anaphylactic shock. The poor physician would be in a difficult position because the living will would prohibit him from intervening in a condition that he could usually easily fix. A health care proxy can adjust to unanticipated circumstances.
Brandon--
Durable Power of Attorney is a backup.
By the by, most living wills have a "no hope of recovery" clause.
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