Lessons from Terri Schiavo
By Nancy R. Larson, Attorney
After the long death of Terri Schiavo,
many Americans are asking what they would do if they were in her
situation. The national dialogue on end
of life issues hit a raw nerve and now individual family members are openly
discussing personal preferences for care if they are no longer able to make
their own decisions, with the intent of having a peaceful death, free of
public scrutiny and criticism.
Lesson Number One is that it is never too early to make
your wishes known in writing in regard to health care issues. Everyone over the age of 18 should execute a
Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, which names someone to make health
care decisions for you when you become mentally or physically unable to do
so. The person who you name to make
decisions on you behalf is called your agent.
Your agent has the right to make decisions
concerning your care and to receive medical information from your care
providers. That person also has the right
to make decisions that are not specifically covered in your health care power
of attorney, just as you would have made those decisions for yourself. Good communication with your agent is
essential. Have open discussions with
the agent about your goals for treatment and care.
Rebecca Wisdom, President and
Throughout most of our lives medical decisions are
relatively simple, but as health declines medical decisions become more
complex. The generations alive today
must deal with the difficult end of life choices that have resulted from
technological advances. This is the
first generation to face the moral dilemmas created by respirators, feeding
tubes, CPR and other advancements that may improve some patients’ chance for
survival.
Chaplain Hank Dunn in his book “Hard Choices for Loving
People” advises that we must constantly “weigh the possible benefits against
the burden of the treatment.” He
maintains that sometimes the burden of the treatment far outweighs any possible
benefits. Others however feel that even
a small potential benefit is worth the risk.
Dunn maintains that when making medical decisions
concerning the frail elderly often the medical treatments offer only marginal
benefits. He sees there being four
crucial questions that must be answered in the context of the moral and
spiritual beliefs of the individual along with information from the physician
as follows:
1.
Should resuscitation be attempted? Will CPR be able to restore this person to
his or her previous level of functioning?
2.
Should artificial nutrition and hydration be
administered?
3.
Should the person stay at home or be hospitalized?
4.
Is it appropriate to try to cure the condition or
should the emphasis be shifted to providing comfort measures only?
These
challenging questions imposed by our own
technology test the strength our moral fiber. Most people after executing estate planning
documents, including
Powers of Attorney, put them in a safe place such as their safe deposit box at
the bank or a home safe. When it comes
to your health care power of attorney, the last place this document should be
is locked up somewhere and not readily accessible in the event of an
emergency. I generally advise my clients
to keep multiple copies on a variety of places:
1.
Provide a copy to your regular physician.
2. Provide a copy to your appointed health care
agent and the possibly the successor agent.
3. Keep a copy at home in a safe place that your
spouse or adult children could easily retrieve if needed.
Nancy R. Larson is an
attorney with offices in