Living Wills, Research Paper Example

Though it is really hard to think about the time when people will approach the final verge of their life and will await death, still there is a necessity to think in advance about what actions to take in case they become incapacitated. In many cases people are hit by sudden, incurable diseases, and there is hardly anyone who wants to be held on artificial means of prolonging life. People refuse from different kinds of treatment for particular reasons, but the main action to make that refusal legitimate and to make physicians and relatives who surely do not want to let them go from life is to compose a living will. It will stipulate all wishes and preferences regarding the situation in which they are no longer able to express their will about the treatment.

A living will is a legal document in which the person can stipulate all preferences as for the treatment he or she wants and does not want to take in case of incapacitation:

“This written, legal document spells out the types of medical treatments and life-sustaining measures you do and don’t want, such as mechanical breathing (respiration and ventilation), tube feeding or resuscitation. In some states, living wills may be called health care declarations or health care directives” (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2009, p. 1).

As one can see from the definition above, there are mainly four types of treatment that cause doubts or disapproval in patients and become the most wanted kinds of treatment to avoid. The reasons for such choices can be found in specific human values and life philosophies that make them act in this or that way. For example, some people appreciate their lives above all, so they can agree to living with the help of artificial equipment just for the sake of living; others do not want to make their relatives suffer financial losses and see them leading only mechanic existence, so they choose a way to leave this world more rapidly. Disregarding the reasons for which people refuse from certain types of treatment, one should understand more clearly what there types of treatment represent and what they mean for many patients.

The first type of undesirable treatment is resuscitation – it is a way to restart the heart of a patient with the help of an electronic chocker because of impulses “by cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or by a device that delivers an electric shock to stimulate the heart” (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2009, p. 2). Mechanical ventilation is the type of treatment applied to patients unable to breathe independently. Taking into consideration that mechanical ventilation can be applied to the patient for an indefinite period, one has to consider whether he or she wants his or her life sustained this way. This applies to the case when the health status is already hopeless and turning off the ventilation system will inevitably, though not immediately, cause the patient’s death (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2009).

Nutritional and hydration assistance is applied when the patients are no longer able to eat and drink independently; the future patients, therefore, have to decide how long and how they wish to accept nutrition that way to have their lives artificially sustained. Dialysis represents the same dilemma for patients: this type of treatment “removes waste from your blood and manages fluid levels if your kidneys no longer function” (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2009, p. 2). Some patients who understand that their lives will be over as soon as their kidneys fail do not want to sustain their lives by dialysis.

The main peculiarity of a living will is to dictate the declarant’s wishes for treatment only in the situation when he or she becomes unable to express them on his or her own. One can gain this status only upon the certification of a doctor and only under such situations as terminal illnesses and permanent disability. If the case is none of the above, the living will cannot come into force and another document such as a health care power of attorney or health care proxy regulates the patient’s treatment preferences (Berlin, n.d.).

These two circumstances should be addressed in more detail. If the patient has a terminal illness, it means that the cure is impossible and the patient’s death is inevitable. This is why some patients do not want a struggle for their lives without the quality of life they would prefer, and refuse from all kinds of life-prolonging treatment to avoid excessive sufferings. In such a situation the meaning of a living will may be as follows:

“If you lose the ability to communicate, your doctors may assume you want your life extended as long as possible. If you prefer a shorter, but more comfortable life during a terminal illness, you can request it” (Freer, 1994).

Another situation is a permanent disability, and the main challenge faced both by patients and by physicians is that the range of disabilities is so wide that it is very hard to define the extent of the disability, it hopelessness and chances for successful accomplishment of treatment that will enable the patient to obtain at least a partly similar quality of life than before the illness:

“The triggering circumstances need to be defined as specifically as possible in terms of three primary factors: type, severity, and permanence or irreversibility. Terms such as “loss of dignity” or “impaired ability to communicate” should be avoided because they may mean different things to different people” (Freer, 1994).

Thus, the issue of composing a living will is a very delicate one because of the unwillingness of the majority of people to speak about the situations that may happen to each of them but that are frightful. The worst tendency is for people to neglect such issues before they strike them, hoping that they will never find themselves in the hospital and will never need artificial means of treatment. However, it is worth listening to the piece of advice given by the U.S. Living Will Registry – the topic is frightful, but it should not be avoided and it is much better to consult members of one’s family, relatives, and friends and arrive at a conclusion about the ways of treatment one can and cannot accept (U.S. Living Will Registry, 2010). Filling in the form will make the drama approach one’s life, but it will help avoid the troubles that will inevitably come together with the tragedy in case the patient will not have the living will composed.

References

Berlin, R. (n.d.). What is a Living Will? Retrieved February 8, 2010, from http://www.alllaw.com/articles/wills_and_trusts/article7.asp

Freer, J.P. (1994). The Living Will: A Guide To Health Care Decision Making. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from http://wings.buffalo.edu/faculty/research/ bioethics/lwill.html

Mayo Clinic Staff (2009). Living wills and advance directives for medical decisions. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/living-wills/HA00014

U.S. Living Will Registry. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from http://liv-will1.uslivingwill registry.com/forms.html