"Do everything you can to save my father." Doctors hear this a lot. It's the easy thing for family members to say, but it's not necessarily what their father would have said. That's why people need to think about advance directives (sometimes called living wills) for medical care and the appointment of a health care agent.
What are Advance Directives?
Advance directives are documents, written while a person is still able to make decisions, saying that if the person becomes mentally incompetent, then he or she no longer wants artificial life-sustaining measures. These include cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), respirators, and any other measures that the person cares to list.
Why does the advance directive only apply if the person is mentally unable to make decisions?
Because, before then, the doctor can just ask the person about his or her preferences concerning treatment. If the mind is gone, the person can no longer ask to be allowed to die with dignity.
Why would someone not want CPR?
Most relatively healthy people would want CPR if their heart were to stop. That's because they can expect to recover, leave the hospital, and continue with their active lives for a reasonable period of time. Some elderly people who have become incurably frail decide that life is no fun any more. One of my cancer patients, for example, when asked whether he would want CPR, told me that he only wanted to have to die once. CPR would bring him back to life, and then he'd have to die again later. He knew that "later" would be pretty soon anyway.
Why would someone want CPR?
Some people might make the opposite decision. They might decide to have CPR and machines to support artificial breathing because they want to live as long as possible. If you make a decision like that, it will be respected by doctors and hospitals. The doctor is expected to do everything possible to save the life of the patient unless the patient or the patient’s family doesn't want certain specific measures to prolong life.
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