By their very nature, no illness, accident, or injury is ever
convenient. Someone’s medical care should not be based on what is most
expedient, practical, or affordable for anyone other than the patient!
It's important that your wishes be known if -- because of the
inconvenience of illness, accident, or injury -- you are unable to speak
for yourself. Some believe that the "Will to Live" in which you appoint
a health care proxy or health care agent provides you with more
safeguards than does a living will.Recent events have raised concerns among those of us in the disability
community that “the danger in our culture is not that we will be
over-treated, but rather that we will be under-treated. We already have
the right to refuse medical treatment. What we run the risk of losing is
the right to receive the most basic humane care — like food and water —
in the event we have a disability.” (Source:
Fr. Frank Pavone )
It’s somehow become in vogue to say that anyone who wants to die had
the right to do so, which is in contradiction to our civic and moral
laws against suicide.
For some (who worry that their life wishes may not be honored), a
living will is promoted as the answer.
The living will lets you make plans for your future health care, but you
do so by trying to predict the future. For a living will, you’re
expected to make a decision today about what medical treatments you will
or will not want in the future. In other words, because of and despite
the fact that you don't know (or can’t totally know) what medical
condition you may need to cope with, or what treatments will be
available to you at that unnamed and unknown date in the future, some
argue that a living will is as open to interpretation as something
somebody may claim a patient once said in private.
An alternative is to appoint a health care proxy or health care
agent. Your health care agent is someone you trust; you authorize your
health care agent to speak for you if, in the future, you are in a
condition in which you cannot speak for yourself. Your health care proxy
should be somebody who knows your beliefs and values, and with whom you
discuss or have discussed these matters in detail. Then, in the event
that you cannot speak for yourself, your health care agent can make him-
or herself available to ask all the necessary questions of your doctors
and clergy; then, once all of the details of your condition and medical
needs are actually known and in accordance with your previously
discussed wishes, your health care agent makes decisions about your
treatment. That's what makes appointing a health care agent much safer
than trying to predict the future by establishing a living will.
Appointing a health care agent in a way that safeguards your right to
life is easy. In fact, to protect yourself from having decisions made
that are contrary to your wishes and beliefs, the National Right to Life
Committee has designed a Will to Live that lets you name someone
you trust to be your “health care agent.” Your health care agent
safeguards your life when you cannot speak for yourself. In addition, to
protect yourself in the event that your named health care agent is not
available, The Will to Live also lets you name backup health care
agents.
The Will to Live describes the treatment you do and do not
want in a way that offers guidance for your health care agent and
physicians; provides protection for you, your family, and health care
agent from pressure from health care providers and others because it
allows your health care agent to prove what you really did want; and
gives your family relief from the agony of decision making by making
your wishes clear.
In other words, The Will to Live is your signed legal document
that names someone to act as your “health care agent” to make health
care decisions for you if you develop a condition that makes it
impossible for you to speak for yourself; The Will to Live
includes your clear, written instructions to your health care agent
about what medical treatment you would want if you can no longer speak
for yourself.
The “Will to Live” Project has a download page with links to
the proper documents for each state available on
their Web site.
By their very nature, no illness or accident is ever convenient.
Someone’s medical care should not be based on what is most expedient,
practical, or affordable for anyone other than the patient!
"We pay great lip service in this country to disability rights,
but as the degree of a person's disability increases, the level of
protection that person receives decreases." -Bob Schindler, Terri
Schiavo's father.
Suggested reading and resources:
The “Will to Live” Project
The “Will to Live” Project FAQ
Will to Live Project Download Page
Not Dead Yet
National Right to Life Committee
Euthanasia FAQ
Too Late to Die Young : Nearly True Tales from a Life
by Harriet McBryde Johnson |
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(Hardcover) |
(Paperback - Feb. 2006) |
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Harriet McBryde Johnson, whose law practice
specializes in disability advocacy, is probably best known for
the 13 years she protested the Jerry Lewis Telethon. (She
resents how Jerry portrays a child's MD diagnosis as a "death
sentence.") In her book, she details what life is like depending
on a personal assistant to help her attend to many of her daily
needs and chores. Johnson explains how she faces her challenges
from the seat of her motorized wheelchair by tackling none other
than the animal rights advocate and euthanasia champion who
believes that "children like her" should be killed at birth to
allow the parents to have children who will lead a "happier
life."
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