The Advance Directive And Living Will: Fill & Download for Free

I recently faced a similar situation with my father... as the EMTs were rolling him to the ambulance, they asked, "if he codes on the ride to the hospital, does he want to be resuscitated?" I didn't know his answer, so I said yes, resuscitate him. When they asked him the question, his answer was "definitely not -- no CPR, and no tubes."The lesson I took away was the importance of having conversations about this in advance, and documenting them via a living will, advance directive and / or DNR order. If you haven't had this discussion with your patents, do so!To answer your question more directly, if I knew the person's wishes, I would definitely honor them. I have no right to put my personal discomfort ahead of their wishes.

(?) Try to live forever.Your physician will follow advance directives. They are cut and dried. They have been notorized . There is no need to delve into reason, it is a done deal. Hopefully you will have told your loved ones as well as your physician and they will follow through.For instance I have added DNI to DNR in my directives and have told my children and my physicians, who added those notes to my charts. My children have copies of both standard and living wills. There is no need to cause further angst to my families experience.I assume that if you want a royal funeral it will be arranged and paid for in advance. Do not count on me to spend your money in frivolity. Take care of your wishes in advance and make both a standard and living will. Your memory sustains me, not a plot of land.Cold-hearted? Perhaps but I think logically and forewarned is forearmed.**Disclaimer: I write in bold face type because I have Multiple Sclerosis. Poor eyesight as a result of Optic Neuritis.** It is for medical reasons.

During the run up to the eventual passage of the Affordable Care Act, Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate came up with the term “Death Panels.”She was referring to Section 1233 of bill HR 3200 which would have paid physicians for providing voluntary counseling to Medicare patients about living wills, advance directives, and end-of-life care options.Death panel - WikipediaPart of the section would have allowed you to have private discussions with your physician about ways to handle your end of life care. They could range from “do every thing you can, for as long as it takes, to keep me alive,” to “Do Not Resuscitate or DNR.”There are a lot of flavors in between the examples I’ve listed above. It was just those choices that this part of ACA would have addressed.Because of Palin's claim that the government would somehow have a right to kill you because you would be seen a fiscal drain on the country, and because the public believed her the section was removed.During the campaign, I watched President Obama as he talked to a group of seniors in a grocery store. He was answering questions about this section of the bill, and he was trying to make it clear that if this part stayed in the ACA, it did not mean that the government would somehow have the right to kill you or your loved ones.A woman about two rows back stood up and yelled, “You’re going to kill granny!”Enough people in this country agreed with her, and the section was excised.I have a living will. I have an advanced directive that includes my end-of-life care wishes. I’m not on Medicare.