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 Introduction
Today legislation
requires patients to provide doctors, clinics, hospitals etc. with “advance
directives.” An advance directive is a document by which a person makes
provision for health care decisions in the event that, in the future, he or she
is no longer competent to make such decisions for himself or herself.
Advance directives are of two main types: (1) the “living
will” and (2) the “durable power of attorney for health care.” There is a third
type called a MOST form (medical order for scope of treatment), which is fast
becoming the form of choice in the US.
It combines into one form living will provisions, DNR orders, designate
of proxy care giver and has a doctor's signature making it a MEDICAL ORDER,
hence the name.
Living will
What it is. This is a signed, witnessed or notarized
document that a person executes to direct that specified life-sustaining
treatments be withheld or withdrawn if he or she is in a terminal condition and
unable to make health-care decisions for herself or himself. To be legally binding, a document of this kind must
ordinarily be witnessed and sealed by notary public.
Serious
problems. Since an attending physician who may be unfamiliar with the
signer’s wishes and values has the authority to carry out the directives of the
will, its terms may be interpreted in a way not envisioned by its signer.
Moreover, the language used in such documents is often vague and general, and fails
to distinguish clearly the difference between a choice to commit suicide by
forgoing or withholding treatment precisely as a way of ending one’s life or
the non-suicidal intention to forgo treatment because of the treatment’s uselessness or burdensomeness.
Frequently, models of a living will are promoted by supporters of euthanasia,
using language that is easy to interpret in a way favorable to euthanasia. Thus the organization known as Compassion & Choices, created by
merger with the Hemlock Society, is committed to secure the legalization of
euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. This organization on its website
offers models of pro-euthanasia
and assisted suicide living wills (website https://www.compassionandchoices.org/).
Because of this and because a living
will is prepared before a person will be in a situation calling for careful
judgment about the appropriateness or non-appropriateness of specific
treatments, John Finnis, a strong defender of the inviolability of innocent
human life and the great good of human life itself, has written a devastating
criticism of living will legislation in England.
The Durable Power of Attorney
What it is. This is a signed, witnessed or notarized
document in which the signer designates an agent to make health care decisions
for himself or herself in the event that he or she becomes incompetent.
Care in choosing agent; advantages. The agent must be chosen with great care
since he will have great power and authority to make decisions about whether
health care is to be provided, withheld or withdrawn. The major advantage of
appointing a health care decisions agent is that it leaves decision making in
the hands of a person of one’s own choosing. The signer of such a document has the obligation to discuss
his or her values, wishes and instructions with the agent before and at the
time the document is signed, and should choose an agent willing to respect and
carry out the signer’s wishes. Thus pro-life people will want their agent to
value human life, including bodily life, as good
and a precious gift from God, no matter how heavily burdened, and will
repudiate euthanasia and/or assisted suicide, which is rooted in the belief
that a person’s life is a burden and that
death removes this burden.
In
2009 the Roman Catholic Bishops of Maryland and Wilmington, DE published a
pastoral letter, Comfort &
Consolation: Care of the Sick and the Dying in which they offer criteria for selecting a health care agent with the
power of attorney (see pages 27-29). Their criteria were proposed specifically
for Catholics. Here I adapt them for all who oppose withholding/withdrawing
treatments in order to kill a person intentionally:
· Appoint a person who has the strength of
character to make good judgments in painful circumstances and discuss specifics
with that person (and also with your primary physician).
· No one should agree to act as an agent for
another person if that person would expect or require the agent to do anything
that he would directly and intentionally choose in order to cause death, nor
should he choose to withhold or withdraw a treatment not because it is useless
(futile) or excessively burdensome but rather as a means intentionally and
directly to cause death for allegedly merciful reasons.
· Appoint someone who is likely to be available
to care for you in the distant future. Since this is so, it may be advisable to
name alternate agents, in the event that your first choice proves unable or
unwilling to act for you when the need arises.
· In general one should avoid stating that he
wants to reject certain treatments under all circumstances or stating without
qualification that she want medical remedies restricted in the event that
he/she become permanently unconscious or terminally ill. Such stipulation can
amount to providing a premature self-diagnosis. The person should allow his
health care agent and physician latitude to offer appropriate care based on the
individual’s actual condition.
· Include a provision regarding treatment at
the time of imminent death. A person on the verge of death can refuse a
treatment which would result in only a burdensome prolongation of life. Your
advance directive should authorize your agent to observe this norm.
· Periodically review the provisions of your
directive and make copies of your directive and distribute them to your agent
and each of your health care providers and anyone else you deem appropriate.
The Parents Rights
Council (formerly known as the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force) has developed a very worthwhile document
called the “Protective Medical Decisions Document” (PMDD). This can be
downloaded from the Parents Rights Council’s website http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/. This is a durable power of attorney for
health care document specifically prohibiting suicide, assisted suicide and
euthanasia. Among its provisions are the following:
I
wish to receive medical treatment appropriate to my condition which offers a
reasonable hope of benefit. I direct that food and water be provided to me
unless death is inevitable and truly imminent so that the effort to sustain my
life is futile or unless I am unable to assimilate food or fluids. I ask that,
even in the face of death, I be provided with ordinary nursing and medical
care, including pain relief, appropriate to my condition. Nothing should be
done which will directly and intentionally cause my death, nor should anything
be omitted when such omissions would directly and intentionally cause my death.
Euthanasia (an action or omission that of itself or by intent causes death),
whether by commission or omission, is not permitted.
In conclusion, I
advise persons not to sign living wills. Rather appoint a person whom you trust
to be your agent by giving him or her durable power of attorney and consider
making use of the Protective Medical Decisions Document available from the
Parents Rights Council.
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