Do You Have A Living Will?
Several months ago my wife missed a step going downstairs and fell hard
on her knee. Who could have known that more than a month later that fall
would precipitate a blood clot which would travel to her lung - a life threatening
condition that landed us in the emergency room and an entire week at the
hospital? One of the first questions asked of her upon admission was, "do
you have a living will?" I was asked whether I had power of attorney
for making medical decisions on her behalf. Fortunately, the answer to both
questions was "yes."
By God's grace, JoAnn is now home and recovering from this ordeal, and thankfully
we never had to use either the power of attorney or the living will. The
experience did show us the value of being prepared, however. None of us know
what tomorrow or even today will bring. If you have not yet prepared a living
will or have granted your husband or wife a healthcare power of attorney,
it would be well worth the time it takes to obtain these documents.
But what is a living will? What is a durable power of attorney? A living
will is a legal document which outlines your wishes concerning the use of
artificial life support should you become unable to speak for yourself. A
healthcare power of attorney grants your spouse or other trusted individual
the power to make medical decisions on your behalf should you be unable to
make those decisions or communicate them yourself.
Both a living will and power of attorney are essential to ensuring that your
concerns are addressed should the need ever arise. If you don't have both
of these documents, you will want to obtain them as soon as possible. Even
if you have both of them, now would be a good time to take them out and review
them.
But what should they say? Medical decisions and end-of-life care are both
fraught with issues full of ethical implications. Have you thought about
the administration of food and fluids? These essentials of every day life
have been interpreted by some courts to be "medical treatment" that
could be withheld just like a ventilator or other artificial means of sustaining
life. Under any other circumstances, however, withholding food and fluids
from a person would be seen as unethical.
How are the courts interpreting these documents? Will my living will be interpreted
the way I'd like it to be? What provisions do I need to have in it? Under
what circumstances should you allow "the plug to be pulled?" What
else do I need to think about? None of the answers to these questions are
easy, and it takes some effort and education to think about all the implications.
In order to help answer some of these questions, The Center for Arizona Policy
is sponsoring, in conjunction with Focus on the Family, Phoenix Seminary,
the Bioethics Defense Fund, the Christian Medical and Dental Association,
and others, a bioethics conference on Saturday, November 3 at Bethany Bible
Church in Phoenix.
The Biotech Century: Facing Our Future will answer these questions as well as giving a comprehensive Christian worldview of the ethics involved in a number of other issues including embryonic stem cell research, in vitro fertilization, and more.
For a complete conference schedule and to make your reservations, please visit www.bioethicsconference.com today!
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Brad
Frese is the Research Director for The
Center for Arizona Policy www.azpolicy.org |
© 2008 Good News Tucson
