Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
My doctor suggested that I should make a living will. I haven't done it because how I feel about it now could be very different than how I feel about it at the time. I'll leave it up to my kin and the doctors.
I've been in the position of having to give my input into the decision of another life and I think about it the odd time but I believe the decision to remove the life support at that time was the right one and I can live with it.
|
A living will only matters if you are unable to communicate your wishes. If you have a living will that says one thing and you now feel differently you can let the doctors know.
Without a leaving will it is the family that lets the physicians know what you would want. Some times they don't know and then feel like they are in a position of making a decision about whether their husband, mother etc should live or die. Sometimes different family members have different views of what you would like. I think this can be a terrible burden on a family at what is already a very difficult time.
We do know that family members often suggest much more an longer life support than you would want. Even though they would not wish for that sort of care for them self.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8505455
For this reason I think that it is even more important to have a talk with those people who might be in that position about what you would want. So they can support your wishes. Documenting your wishes ensures your wishes will be complied with and removes that difficult decision from your family.
Alberta Health Services has some good resources that can help these discussions.
A general description of advanced care planning
http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/...ce&rid=1023351
Some tools to help with advanced care planing
http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/3917.asp
Although I've quoted Vulcan on this post I want to be clear that "you" in this post is generic and does not refer specifically to him.