Posted on May 23, 2010.
The “Will to Live” Project
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 has 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
Recommended Book:
| Too Late to Die Young : Nearly True Tales from a Life
by Harriet McBryde Johnson |
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(Hardcover)
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(Paperback)
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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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Related posts:
- Life Choices
- Health News Resources
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A professional writer since 1984, Pamela Rice Hahn is the author of more than 20 published books.