A Primer in Health Care Advance Directives
Advances in modern medicine have made it possible to prolong the lives of seriously ill individuals without always offering realistic hope for improvement or a cure. For some individuals, the possibility of extended life is viewed as meaningful and beneficial. For others, prolonging life artificially may only extend suffering and delay the dying process.
The Florida Legislature recognizes the fundamental right of individuals to make medical decisions to have life-prolonging health care procedures provided, withheld, or withdrawn. It also recognizes the right of adults to plan ahead for any type of health care decision and to have their wishes respected through the use of advance directives. Frequently, advanced directives are written when a person is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness or is planning some course of medical treatment. More often, however, these documents are included as a part of a person’s estate planning.
An advance directive is a document that expresses desires concerning health care or anatomical donations after death. Advance directives include living wills, designations of health care surrogate and anatomical gift declarations.
A living will is a declaration that allows a person to state desires with regard to life-prolonging procedures. These procedures are not expected to cure a terminal condition but only prolong the dying process, such as the use of a ventilator and CPR. Florida law provides that life-prolonging medical procedures may be withheld or withdrawn if a person is terminally ill, in an end-stage condition, or is in a persistent vegetative state (each of these conditions is further defined by statute). In each situation, a person may direct that he or she does not desire to have life support. Furthermore, a person may also specify whether to maintain nutrition and hydration through artificial means if it would only serve to prolong an inevitable death.
A designation of health care surrogate is a written document naming another person as a representative to make medical decisions if the principal is unable to make them on his or her own. Instructions could include desires for types of treatment under various circumstances, similar to a living will. Unlike a living will, however, the designation of a health care surrogate typically permits a surrogate to make most, if not all, decisions concerning health care when the principal is unable to make medical decisions or provide informed consent.
An anatomical gift declaration is a written document that indicates a person’s wish to donate all or part of his or her body at death. This declaration can include specific organ and tissue donations to persons in need or the donation of the entire body to medical science. A declaration to make anatomical gifts can also be accomplished by signing the back of a person’s driver’s license.
Tagged with: Advance Directives • Health Care Surrogate • Inevitable Death • Modern Medicine • Persistent Vegetative State
Filed under: Lawyer Driver Articles
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Ron Paul has consistently voted against health care reform. He is a doctor who profited from the current system which is leaving over 20 percent of Americans with no option aside from emergency rooms.
Obama the great Liar,the biggest of them all combined.False promises.Get a grip we are broke.
RT RT Wow! Just heard new track, 'Doggie Downer Days' by Death & Taxes, from forthcoming CD "Inevitable". IT …
yeah..like when one gets an incurable disease or age or when one loses desirability like former atheist make your buns burn change the world and now born again Jane Fonda.
A person may be described as being in a Persistent Vegetative State, or PVS. Normally just less than 100 people in the UK in PVS. #letshelp
Some states explicitly allow additions to "statutory" advance directives – I'm not sure about TN.
Most important advice would be to have very frank and complete discussions, both with the person(s) who you want to make decisions if you're unable to do so AND with relatives and others who have an interest in your health, whether or not you expect them to agree with your values and decisions, so that all understand the nature of the decisions you have made about your continuing healthcare.
Twas a bit tipsy but did I hallucinate Gok Wan giving an amputee a makeover?What's next?'How to look good in a persistent vegetative state'?
An OXFORD Medical dictionary with over 10,000 terms used in modern Medicine. The product allows you …
They could wire up a veggie body to a pc and eventullay let them roam about in world of warcraft and communicate within the 3D world.
In the setting that Steinbeck lays out in the novel, I'd have to say, yes, it was inevitable.
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Well, let me put the question back to you. Why do YOU believe that his death was inevitable? Given the setting of this novel, could George really have been expected to keep Lennie from harm indefinitely. Not very likely, right? There was just too much that could go wrong. And eventually, too much DID go wrong.
This song kick ass!
RT One of my facebook friends just honestly thanked god for modern medicine. Is that considered irony? — funny.
LOL… the bible was written too long ago to allow an addendum on how we manage patients in such conditions. It doesn't say much about the Glasgow scale either, oddly enough
Robert, I am considered a “geek” by a number of people, but I don’t need or want to talk about technology 24/7. I have other interests and I like to see where they connect. I want to see coalescence. I can’t get disparate connections always watching or listening to the same track. Even Richard Feynman believed that…as do many others in other “geek” fields. When I was little I happened to be playing with my aunt’s train set on the floor of my grandmother’s living room. Up in the attic was my grandfather, who incidentally got me interested in technology. On the TV was a program with Jonathan Smith, who at that time was recognized as one of the few “renaissance men”. I was fascinated with the word then and I am still fascinated by the idea of that approach to learning. Today, we sometimes mistakenly refer to these people as “generalists”. I believe that no field could long endure or grow without them.