I just wonder what your thoughts are on this issue. Thanks. Mary
> I recently had minimal invasive spine surgery. I remember someone
> at the hospital asking me if I had a 'living will' which I do. I was
> told to bring it to the hospital. I know that some people have their
> 'living wills' filed at the hospital. I don't feel comfortable with that.
Why ?
> I leave mine at home, in the safe, where any one of my sons can get it and
> take it to the hospital, hopefully after a second opinion, if the time arises.
Sounds like that could see the kids fighting over what to tell the hospital about your wishes.
> I just wonder what your thoughts are on this issue.
Hard to say unless you say why you arent keen on the hospital having it.
In the event that you couldn't speak for yourself, I'd be surprised if one
of your sons could get the hospital to recognize the document unless he also
had a medical power of attorney. And if you could speak for yourself, you
wouldn't need the will.
So make a few copies. File one at the hospital.
Not Lou but how could you possibly have absolute assurance of that? As
they say "things happen", just look at scenarios I described earlier in
this thread for some possibilities. It makes perfect sense that any
medical provider (or any provider for that matter) would want to know
your directives prior to providing service rather than scrambling at the
last minute. And as Lou suggested if you should be unable to communicate
it is possible that the hospital may not even accept the unknown source
piece of paper your son gives to them.
You make it sound so simple - maybe it is wherever you are, but my wife and
I went through this about three years ago with my mother-in-law, and it sure
wasn't. My mother-in-law had a living will, my wife had the medical power
of attorney, and every time her mother went into the hospital, she had to go
through the whole rigmarole. Sometimes we'd have to pull out the documents
when we were visiting her mother in the hospital and go through them with
whoever was in charge at the nurses station on that floor that evening.
I'm not saying that I think there was willful neglect or any intention of
ignoring my mother-in-law's wishes on the part of her doctors or the
hospital staff, but there are times when things just get lost in the
bureaucratic shuffle. Filing a copy at "the" local hospital strikes me as
likely to do as much good as tossing a copy in the trash.
I don't know if you're reading too much or you're reading the wrong stuff.
In NJ, if your wishes are made clear then they must be respected. Any
problem with this is more likely to be a physician's or hospital's
unwillingness to withhold certain treatments than it is to be murdered for
the sake of any usable organs that could be obtained from your corpse. And
I somewhat doubt that anyone willing to commit such an atrocity would be
deterred by a piece of paper.
A doctor who refuses to withhold or withdraw life support because of his/her
beliefs is supposed to make that clear and transfer the patient to a
physician who is willing to comply with your wishes. Similarly,
religious-affiliated institutions my adopt policies at odds with your
wishes, and such institutions must explain this at the earliest opportunity
and make arrangements to transfer and accommodate you at another facility.
Again, in NJ the usual advanced directive requires your physician and at
least one other doctor who has personally examined to agree that you're
condition is such that the provisions of your directive apply (in other
words, there's a second opinion).
I had a procedure performed six months ago and the hospital couldn't even
locate the information on their computer system. I'm sure its in the
computer system but my doctor didn't know where is was filed or if its
misfiled or erased - it was in the computer system three months ago. I also
receive a letter from the same hospital updating my medical history but that
letter addressed to me had the information for another patient - I bet my
information was forwarded to someone else. I don't think anyone double check
those things - sounds like a good chance to have the wrong arm or leg
amputated. With this kind of diligent, I just hope they could find the
advance directive in time, and not someone else's directive. One thing my
hospital is good at is raising the insurance premiums every year and
collecting payments - they are so efficient and never fail, whish they are
as good at taking care of you when the time comes. Murphy's Law happens at
the worst time, I understand Mary's concerts.