Healthcare Directives

Quite often I'm asked about Healthcare Directives, which are sometimes called Living Wills, or a DNR form ("Do Not Resuscitate"). The Healthcare Directive was developed after a prolonged legal battle, which resolved around 2005, between the husband of Terri Schiavo and her family. Terri Schiavo was found on the floor, unconscious and not breathing, without oxygen flowing to her brain for several minutes, after she suffered cardiac arrest. She spent years in a hospital with her life artificially prolonged that she was in an irreversible and persistent vegetative state without any hope of recovery. Terri's husband wanted to remove her feeding tube, but her parents objected and a long legal battle ensued. After many appeals and a ruling by the Supreme Court, her feeding tube was allowed to be removed because the Court found that before her medical crisis, she had stated a desire not to be artificially prolonged on life support in such a situation if she had no hope of recovery.

Therefore, hospitals and medical professionals can take into consideration a patient's stated desire or directive as to the medical care they wish to receive in these dire situations. of course, a decision about whether you would want to be kept alive artificially in such circumstances is a very personal decision for everyone. I recommend that you consider whether you would want to be kept alive by ventilators and feeding tubes, if you should become in a permanent vegetative state without any hope of recovery, at a time when you are not facing an immediate health crisis and can carefully evaluate your decision. In the middle of a health crisis is not the optimal time to try and make a rushed decision on such life or death matters. Furthermore, you should let a trusted friend or loved one know your wishes.

Therefore, I recommend that you gather information to carefully consider this topic, and then fill out the form for a Healthcare Directive in advance of any medical crisis. You can contact an attorney and ask for this form as part of your estate planning, or you can find a form for a Healthcare Directive on Mississippi's Department of Health website. On the form, you can select an individual to be your "medical power of attorney" to make the decision for you if you are unconscious and unable to state your wishes. There is also a section where you can select whether you want all possible medical intervention, known in the hospital as "full code," or if you do not want to be kept on artificial life support if, to reasonable degree of medical certainty, you do not have hope of recovery. By providing this form to healthcare professionals and your family, they will know your wishes should you ever find yourself in a situation like that of Terry Schiavo.