tazzygirl
Posts: 37833
Joined: 10/12/2007 Status: offline
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A living will usually provides specific directives about the course of treatment that is to be followed by health care providers and caregivers. In some cases a living will may forbid the use of various kinds of burdensome medical treatment. It may also be used to express wishes about the use or foregoing of food and water, if supplied via tubes or other medical devices. The living will is used only if the individual has become unable to give informed consent or refusal due to incapacity. A living will can be very specific or very general. An example of a statement sometimes found in a living will is: “If I suffer an incurable, irreversible illness, disease, or condition and my attending physician determines that my condition is terminal, I direct that life-sustaining measures that would serve only to prolong my dying be withheld or discontinued.” More specific living wills may include information regarding an individual's desire for such services such as analgesia (pain relief), antibiotics, hydration, feeding, and the use of ventilators or cardiopulmonary resuscitation. However, studies have also shown that adults are more likely to complete these documents if they are written in everyday language and less focused on technical treatments.[ Most states have laws deciding who makes that decision, absent a living will. It is almost always a family member. In a few states, the Drs can decide among those who are available. For example, in West Virginia the patient's physician or nurse chooses from among parents, spouses, adult children and siblings the one he believes would be the best decision-maker. Similarly, in Indiana, any of those can make health-care decisions. Spouses seeking the right to speak for an incapacitated mate should take the necessary legal action as far as state law allows. Read more: Spouses' Rights in Making Healthcare Decisions Without Advance Directives | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8448477_spouses-healthcare-decisions-advance-directives.html#ixzz1jJQGlgMz Lovers will always be at the bottom of the totem pole. So, yes, they will need one. Not so much spouses, though it is a good idea to make sure the patient's wishes are followed. There was an incident where a hospital turned away a civil union partner because they were on vacation when the woman had an aneurysm and the state doesnt recognize gay unions. That is something they could never do with a spouse.
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Telling me to take Midol wont help your butthurt. RIP, my demon-child 5-16-11 Duchess of Dissent 1 Dont judge me because I sin differently than you. If you want it sugar coated, dont ask me what i think! It would violate TOS.
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