Living Wills Can Kill You
Living wills can kill you.
How did you feel when you read that sentence? Did it make you shake? Make your skin crawl? Maybe the horror of this statement has finally sunk in for all those who have been so scared about this day since they first heard that their loved ones had a living will. And let’s be honest, it’s not a theory anymore — there are countless examples of people who have literally died because they followed their living will to the letter and refused medical treatment (or any type of treatment) to die on their own terms.
No one could have predicted that we would have to put a disclaimer on living wills saying not to rely on them and instead to follow the wishes of your loved ones, or at least defer to the medical professionals who know what they are doing. But you better believe we do put that disclaimer in there now because people are dying.
Truth be told, everyone knew it was just a matter of time before this happened. You have to realize that living wills are a last-resort option. It’s a really good thing when you know that the person you are 100% trusting with your life is going to recommend the treatments you want before they get around to recommending treatment that might kill them if they receive it. And even then, they still might not get it.
It’s a really good thing when the person you are 100% trusting with your life is going to recommend treatment before they get around to recommending treatment that might kill them if they receive it.
If you want to read a great article about this subject, check out the article I link to below. The author is a neurosurgeon and author of the book, Living Wills: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. He has been practicing for a long time now so he has seen a lot of things go wrong with living wills. And let’s be honest — we have all seen them go wrong at some point in our lives, whether it be one that was written by someone or one that comes from your own personal idea of what you would want in extreme situations.
Then there is the problem of people ignoring the living wills of their loved ones. A recent study from the American Medical Association says that most doctor’s offices do not even have access to a patient’s living will and while most people want their doctor to honor it, they are not very confident in them actually doing it. This is a huge problem because if you don’t even know someone has a living will and you assume you know what they would want, you could be killing them without knowing it. And this is why we have disclaimers to living wills now — to inform doctors and your loved ones that you will be dying on your own terms with or without medical intervention.
As a final note, there has been a recent push to change the laws on living wills because of these problems. The focus is on revoking the “withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment” part of living wills and instead making them more like a “Medical Power of Attorney” that specifically states that you trust your loved ones with your life. They want to do away with this option entirely because it has become such an issue and everyone seems to agree that the best way to go is to trust the doctors who know what they are doing over a person who might be dying anyway.
Author: Zach Bubeck Zach Bubeck is a blogger for the Personal Injury Network, an online insurance agency that constantly strives to find ways to help people come out on top after an accident. On top of writing for them, he is also a guest blogger for many other blogs and works with different social networking sites helping people get the most out of them when dealing with injury or after an accident. He has also worked at a law firm that specializes in personal injury and medical malpractice defense so he knows what it’s like from all sides of the fence.
Original Post: http://www.pinninsure.com/blog/living-wills-can-kill-you/
Related Posts: • Living Wills Can Kill You • Living Wills: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly • What Is a Living Will—and Why Should I Have One? • When to Trust Your Doctor Over Your Living Will or Durable Power of Attorney
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If you are in a situation where you have a terminal illness, the best thing you can do for your loved ones is to contact your attorney immediately and get them involved in your medical care. Whether it is just to make sure that your wishes are being carried out or because you want to ensure that if something goes wrong, they know how to handle it. If you don’t, what could happen is that the family members are taken by surprise and they may not know what to do if something happens. And since there are so many different situations, it is wise to have someone familiar with it to guide them and communicate with them in the event that something does go wrong. It is also important for the person in charge of your medical care to keep you apprised of any changes in your health and other complications that you might be facing.
If you have an attorney, be sure to get their contact information as well as instructions on how to reach them if necessary. Then, you can have them send a letter to your doctor and any other medical personnel involved in your care explaining that you want them to follow your wishes if they are known. But remember that even if the doctors come to you with no such knowledge and try to override your wishes, it is better to be safe than sorry because there might be a chance that they will get it wrong. And a lot of times, families do not know what their loved ones would want … especially if they are very sick.
If you decide not to have an attorney present when making medical decisions or when communicating with family members about your health, make sure that the person doing the medical decision knows what the exact situation is so they will know how best to help. But if you trust the doctor and your family members to do the right thing, make sure that they know that they will need your permission to do it. Have them write you a letter stating your wishes in case of any problems or lapses.
The most important thing for a patient who has advanced cancer is to tell everyone involved how you would like it handled as well as letting them know what decisions have been made about treatment. If you are undergoing aggressive treatments, make sure that there are plenty of people who can be in charge of your care if something goes wrong so even if something is not working out, someone else can help.
Conclusion
It is important that the loved ones of a cancer patient know what treatment the patient wants and that they be given information on how to do it in case something goes wrong. If you don’t want them to make life-or-death decisions for you, put them in a position where it is better to ask for help rather than to assume you have all the answers and try to do everything on your own. Then again, if they are trying but things are not working out or ending up worse than what you imagined, it would be better for everyone if they knew that … especially if someone gets hurt or blamed.