Letters to the Editor 03-13-2000
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Living Wills - Proud Parent
Living Wills
Editor, Times-Union:There appears to be some ongoing confusion in the community regarding Living Wills and their usefulness for the patient whose wishes are that life not be prolonged by artificial means. If I may, please allow me to attempt to shed some light on this matter.
Let me begin by saying that a Living Will is NOT a "Do Not Resuscitate" order which is used at times in the hospital setting, with terminal patients residing in extended care facilities, with patients who have six months or less to live and are being serviced at home through a hospice program, and occasionally other terminally ill patients at home. A "Do Not Resuscitate" order (DNR) is a medical document which must be signed by a physician who, after consulting the patient and/or family, deems that attempts to prolong the life of this individual patient would be futile. A "Do Not Resuscitate" order is a medical document which gives health care professionals the right to not resuscitate the patient.
Living Wills came into prominence with the Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990, which attempted to enhance patient awareness of advance directives (of which the Living Will is one of four recognized in Indiana) by requiring health care institutions to ask patients whether they have advance directives and to inform patients of their rights to prepare these documents. While the good intentions of this act are not in question, it is certainly clear that neither the Patient Self-Determination Act nor having a Living Will in place solves all of the problems associated with making end-of-life decisions in today's highly technical environment.
A Living Will does not in any way guarantee that the patient who signs this document will be free from attempts at resuscitation if their heart should stop beating or they should stop breathing. The standard Living Will form used in Indiana clearly states that, "If at any time I have an incurable disease, or illness certified in writing to be a terminal condition by my attending physician" then it is the desire of the patient that life-prolonging or heroic procedures be withheld and that imminent death not be delayed. The condition the patient faces at that moment must be certified by a physician to be terminal or incurable.
An incident of cardiac arrest which may happen at home, in and of itself is not always incurable or terminal as attested to by a number of citizens in our community who have, due to the professional and competent care of our county EMS services and community hospital staff, survived this event and continue to function as healthy members of our society. Further, it must be stated that a Living Will can always be over-ridden verbally by the patient who has every right to change their mind if death is staring them in the face. In fact, the act of calling 911 is viewed as a call for help and temporarily overrides the wishes expressed by the Living Will. When 911 is called and an ambulance is dispatched, the medics onboard that ambulance are, in most instances, bound by law to do their best to attempt to resuscitate that patient. I don't believe any of us would want these decisions made hastily in the heat of a crisis. Nor is this fair to place the burden of this decision on those medics under less than ideal circumstances.
The Living Will has value in this case, however, when the patient arrives at the hospital and is evaluated under controlled conditions by physicians who are trained to make such determinations. The Living Will, brought to the hospital by the family, can be viewed at this time and decisions made by that family on the patient's behalf. This is a good example of the value of the Living Will. The Living Will expresses in black and white what the patient's wishes were when they were able to clearly wrestle with these issues and allows those wishes to be passed on to loving family members who now must make decisions on behalf of the patient. In this controlled environment, once the patient's condition has been determined by physicians to be incurable and terminal, then life support can be withdrawn and the patient can be allowed to die peacefully and with dignity.
A Living Will does have value and you are encouraged to wrestle through the issues it addresses now while you have a clear mind. Talk to your family and make your wishes clearly known to them. While you are at it, why not talk about your wishes regarding organ and/or tissue donation as well. Let your family physician know these wishes and ask them how you can obtain a Living Will form to fill out. But, please remember, a Living Will does not solve all of the dilemmas created by our high-tech world. We can work together, though, under the proper conditions and in the right environment, to see that the rights and wishes of the patient will be accommodated to the best of our ability.
I hope this sheds some light on this very complicated issue. If you have questions regarding a Living Will, please talk to your physician.
Randy Packer, Chaplain
Kosciusko Community Hospital
Proud Parent
Editor, Times-Union:I would like to respond to the letter from a Jim Wells. I am a single mother of three. I have to work very hard to make ends meet.Ê
My son plays for the Wawasee High School basketball team. It has always put me back a little to pay for his shoes, warm ups, etc.Ê I am not even close to being able to "contribute" to the Wawasee High School so my son can play. He has always pushed himself very hard to be the best he can in basketball. He is on the team because he has the ability to be a good player. I think you need to get your facts straight before you shoot off your mouth about something you know nothing about.ÊIf it went by money my son would NOT have been a member of the Wawasee basketball team and would not have gotten on the Northern Lakes Conference boys basketball team - you know the "LONE WARRIOR," andÊhave been able to make it on the All Area team also. I am very proud of my son's accomplishments since he started playing basketball in the 4th grade. It sounds to me that you just wanted everyone to know that you were "very financially secure" when the rest of us actually have to work for what we want. And for your further information my son has a chance to playÊbasketball in college and I did not contribute to the college either. I just want to say CONGRATULATIONS to Wawasee High School for all your sporting events and keep up the good HARD work, someday people like Jim Wells will eatÊtheir words.
Kris Scranton
A Wawasee parent
via e-mail
[[In-content Ad]]
- Living Wills - Proud Parent
Living Wills
Editor, Times-Union:There appears to be some ongoing confusion in the community regarding Living Wills and their usefulness for the patient whose wishes are that life not be prolonged by artificial means. If I may, please allow me to attempt to shed some light on this matter.
Let me begin by saying that a Living Will is NOT a "Do Not Resuscitate" order which is used at times in the hospital setting, with terminal patients residing in extended care facilities, with patients who have six months or less to live and are being serviced at home through a hospice program, and occasionally other terminally ill patients at home. A "Do Not Resuscitate" order (DNR) is a medical document which must be signed by a physician who, after consulting the patient and/or family, deems that attempts to prolong the life of this individual patient would be futile. A "Do Not Resuscitate" order is a medical document which gives health care professionals the right to not resuscitate the patient.
Living Wills came into prominence with the Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990, which attempted to enhance patient awareness of advance directives (of which the Living Will is one of four recognized in Indiana) by requiring health care institutions to ask patients whether they have advance directives and to inform patients of their rights to prepare these documents. While the good intentions of this act are not in question, it is certainly clear that neither the Patient Self-Determination Act nor having a Living Will in place solves all of the problems associated with making end-of-life decisions in today's highly technical environment.
A Living Will does not in any way guarantee that the patient who signs this document will be free from attempts at resuscitation if their heart should stop beating or they should stop breathing. The standard Living Will form used in Indiana clearly states that, "If at any time I have an incurable disease, or illness certified in writing to be a terminal condition by my attending physician" then it is the desire of the patient that life-prolonging or heroic procedures be withheld and that imminent death not be delayed. The condition the patient faces at that moment must be certified by a physician to be terminal or incurable.
An incident of cardiac arrest which may happen at home, in and of itself is not always incurable or terminal as attested to by a number of citizens in our community who have, due to the professional and competent care of our county EMS services and community hospital staff, survived this event and continue to function as healthy members of our society. Further, it must be stated that a Living Will can always be over-ridden verbally by the patient who has every right to change their mind if death is staring them in the face. In fact, the act of calling 911 is viewed as a call for help and temporarily overrides the wishes expressed by the Living Will. When 911 is called and an ambulance is dispatched, the medics onboard that ambulance are, in most instances, bound by law to do their best to attempt to resuscitate that patient. I don't believe any of us would want these decisions made hastily in the heat of a crisis. Nor is this fair to place the burden of this decision on those medics under less than ideal circumstances.
The Living Will has value in this case, however, when the patient arrives at the hospital and is evaluated under controlled conditions by physicians who are trained to make such determinations. The Living Will, brought to the hospital by the family, can be viewed at this time and decisions made by that family on the patient's behalf. This is a good example of the value of the Living Will. The Living Will expresses in black and white what the patient's wishes were when they were able to clearly wrestle with these issues and allows those wishes to be passed on to loving family members who now must make decisions on behalf of the patient. In this controlled environment, once the patient's condition has been determined by physicians to be incurable and terminal, then life support can be withdrawn and the patient can be allowed to die peacefully and with dignity.
A Living Will does have value and you are encouraged to wrestle through the issues it addresses now while you have a clear mind. Talk to your family and make your wishes clearly known to them. While you are at it, why not talk about your wishes regarding organ and/or tissue donation as well. Let your family physician know these wishes and ask them how you can obtain a Living Will form to fill out. But, please remember, a Living Will does not solve all of the dilemmas created by our high-tech world. We can work together, though, under the proper conditions and in the right environment, to see that the rights and wishes of the patient will be accommodated to the best of our ability.
I hope this sheds some light on this very complicated issue. If you have questions regarding a Living Will, please talk to your physician.
Randy Packer, Chaplain
Kosciusko Community Hospital
Proud Parent
Editor, Times-Union:I would like to respond to the letter from a Jim Wells. I am a single mother of three. I have to work very hard to make ends meet.Ê
My son plays for the Wawasee High School basketball team. It has always put me back a little to pay for his shoes, warm ups, etc.Ê I am not even close to being able to "contribute" to the Wawasee High School so my son can play. He has always pushed himself very hard to be the best he can in basketball. He is on the team because he has the ability to be a good player. I think you need to get your facts straight before you shoot off your mouth about something you know nothing about.ÊIf it went by money my son would NOT have been a member of the Wawasee basketball team and would not have gotten on the Northern Lakes Conference boys basketball team - you know the "LONE WARRIOR," andÊhave been able to make it on the All Area team also. I am very proud of my son's accomplishments since he started playing basketball in the 4th grade. It sounds to me that you just wanted everyone to know that you were "very financially secure" when the rest of us actually have to work for what we want. And for your further information my son has a chance to playÊbasketball in college and I did not contribute to the college either. I just want to say CONGRATULATIONS to Wawasee High School for all your sporting events and keep up the good HARD work, someday people like Jim Wells will eatÊtheir words.
Kris Scranton
A Wawasee parent
via e-mail
[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092