Florida Living Will

[CREWZIN]

Florida - Living Will

I, _________________________ (fill in the blank), being of sound mind

and body, unequivocally declare that in the event of a catastrophic injury, I do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means.

I hereby instruct my loved ones and relatives to remove all
life-support systems, once it has been determined that my brain is longer functioning in a cognizant realm.

However, that judgment should be made only after thorough consultation with medical experts; i.e., individuals who actually have been trained, educated and certified as doctors.

Under no circumstances -- and I can't state this too strongly -- should my fate be put in the hands of peckerwood politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it.

Furthermore, it is my firm hope that, when the time comes, any
discussion about terminating my medical treatment should remain private and confidential.

Living in Florida, however, I am acutely aware that the legislative and executive branches of state government are fond of meddling in family matters, and have little concern for the privacy and dignity of individuals.

Therefore, I wish to make my views on this subject as clear and
unambiguous as possible. Recognizing that some politicians seem
cerebrally challenged themselves (and with no medical excuse), I'll try to keep this simple and to the point:

1. While remaining sensitive to the feelings of loved ones who might
cling to hope for my recovery, let me state that if a reasonable amount of time passes -- say, ____ (fill in the blank) months -- and I fail to sit up and ask for a cold beer, it should be presumed that I won't ever get better.

When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my spouse,
children and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes
and call it a day.

2. Under no circumstances shall the members of the Legislature enact a special law to keep me on life-support machinery. It is my wish that these boneheads mind their own damn business, and pay attention instead to the health, education and future of the millions of Floridians who aren't in a permanent coma.

3. Under no circumstances shall the governor of Florida butt into this case and order my doctors to put a feeding tube down my throat. I don't care how many fundamentalist votes he's trying to scrounge for his brother in 2004, it is my wish that he plays politics with someone else's life and leaves me to die in peace.

4. I couldn't care less if a hundred religious zealots send e-mails to legislators in which they pretend to care about me. I don't know these people, and I certainly haven't authorized them to preach and crusade on my behalf. They should mind their own business, too.

5. It is my heartfelt wish to expire quietly and without a public
spectacle. This is obviously impossible once elected officials become
involved. So, while recognizing the wrenching emotions that attend the prolonged death of a loved one, I hereby instruct my relatives to settle all disagreements about my care in private or in the courts, as provided by law.

If any of my family goes against my wishes and turns my case into a
political cause, I hereby promise to come back from the grave and make his or her existence a living ____ (fill in the blank).

[gonzomania]

EXACTLY!!!!!

[purple04]

Oh, Yeah! BTW, I'd include a paragraph that stated that if euthanasia is okay for animals, then consider me an animal, and don’t painfully starve me to death to calm someone else’s religious, moral, political or other beliefs. Give me the quick, painless release that I believe in. If the medical, legal and insurance groups don’t figure out how to deal with this soon, the rest of us will soon be paying for a vast support system. Medicine has learned how to keep the flesh alive far longer than the spirit, but society hasn’t decided how or when enough is enough.

[2step]

I'm a bit upset with our news media over this whole thing,too. The more the emotions on both sides, the better they seemed to like it.

We've all been forced to think where we would draw the line if it were our decision to make. After having my nose rubbed in it by the news shows every night for a long while, I still don't know.

[Red GT]

You go CREWZIN!!!!! My husband and I both agreed to never let that happen to each other, no way no how! No one elses business.

[robinjoe]

I think it's impossible for any of us to know the truth about this whole Shiavo thing unless we have seen her for 20 years. I refuse to take sides on this.

I think it's also unfair to judge people on either side of this argument. People can be sincere and loving on both sides.

I don't think that name-calling on either side helps matters either.

On a personal note, living wills can be very risky. My mother had a do not resucitate (DNR) order that my sister and I didn't know about. When she was brought to another hospital that didn't know about the DNR she had heart problems and teh Dr. asked my sister if they should resucitate, and she said yes.

It turned out that the reason that mom was having heart fibrilation was that they gave her an IV drip as soon as she got to the hospital to "hydrate" her. Well, because my mother has complete kidney failure, the fluids built-up in her system, in her lungs and around her heart, and that caused her fibrilation.

Imagine losing your life over some stupid mistake and a DNR. Now she's doing well and seeing her grandchildren grow.

[Goldenturtle02]

Right on Mr. Crewzin!

[quicksilverdon]

quote:Originally posted by 2step


We've all been forced to think where we would draw the line if it were our decision to make. After having my nose rubbed in it by the news shows every night for a long while, I still don't know.

I like it, Crewzin. Political football - without steroids...

2step - I agree, but I think 15 years is well past whatever line....

[crazyjoe]

Robinjoe, excellent post!

I agree for the most part, that we should not judge the people who became involved for loving and sympathetic reasons.

However, this sort of thing is a personal and private matter between the parties involved. The government had no business getting onvolved and passing legislation beyond what what already in place (ie what the judges originally based their rulings on). I don't think that we, as Americans, should even know about this case, let alone have to listen to our politicians grandstand about it.

[quicksilverdon]

quote:Originally posted by crazyjoe

The government had no business getting onvolved and passing legislation beyond what what already in place (ie what the judges originally based their rulings on). I don't think that we, as Americans, should even know about this case, let alone have to listen to our politicians grandstand about it.

I agree. I heard there are roughly 30,000 people in similar situations in the US at a given time - why is this one a political football?

My sisters and I faced something roughly similar with my mother - 1 sister and I knew my mother was "gone", the other sister kept clinging to hope that wasn't there - lucky for us, (and, I believe, for my mother) my mother passed so we didn't have to decide.
I can only imagine the anguish of husband and family after 15 years!