Responsibility of legal guardians

[Joz]

.... if living wills were made mandatory we'd be doing this anyway when the first family member challenges whats in it.........

How so? Who's business is it what I have in any will? Living or last testament? If I make a living will & give it to a trusted individual, I'd expect them to keep their mouth shut until the occassion arose whern it was needed. No discussion.

 

[Annie]

How so? Who's business is it what I have in any will? Living or last testament? If I make a living will & give it to a trusted individual, I'd expect them to keep their mouth shut until the occassion arose whern it was needed. No discussion.

Joz, one must argue for 'common sense'. Let's say you make a living will tomorrow. Medical science could come up with all sorts of breakthroughs 15 years from now. What seems hopless today, maybe routine tomorrow. Logic holds that you want those that know you and your desires best, to have control of medical decisions, if you cannot make them at the time.

 

[SmarterThanYou]

How so? Who's business is it what I have in any will? Living or last testament? If I make a living will & give it to a trusted individual, I'd expect them to keep their mouth shut until the occassion arose whern it was needed. No discussion.

while you're capable, nobody is going to care. It's what happens when you're incapable that i'm talking about. Case in point....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,151252,00.html

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — A judge temporarily barred a Philadelphia woman from prolonging her husband's life with a feeding tube, which his daughter claims is contrary to his wishes.

Like the federal court battle over the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube in Florida, the Bucks County Court case of Alzheimer's disease victim John P. King Jr. is complicated by disagreement among family members.

Unlike Schiavo, the 72-year-old King had signed a living will, but the document didn't avert the dispute that led to a preliminary injunction signed late Tuesday by President Judge David W. Heckler.

The injunction says King may not be nourished through a tube pending a hearing Heckler has scheduled for Monday.

King's daughter, Mariann Judith Clunk, of Hatboro, filed the lawsuit, saying her father suffers from the late stages of Alzheimer's disease and has deteriorated into an unconscious condition.

The lawsuit includes a copy of a living will King signed in 1998 saying he has a "firm and settled commitment to refuse life-sustaining treatment."

If he were ever to be in a "state of permanent unconsciousness," King said in the document, "I do not want tube feeding or any other artificial invasive form of nutrition or hydration."

Clunk said she believed her mother, Ann King of Philadelphia, intended to have her husband nourished through a feeding tube.

Ann King said she had asked for insertion of a feeding tube. "I have been talking to the doctor about it for while," she said. She said she didn't know about the injunction, and declined to comment further.

Though the living will stated King's opposition to a feeding tube in the event of permanent unconsciousness, it also named Ann King as her husband's surrogate, with the power to carry out his wishes if he is "unable or incompetent to make or express a decision."

Clunk and King's son, John P. King III, were named as alternate co-surrogates.

Clunk's attorney, Joseph M. Masiuk, declined to discuss whether Clunk's authority would outweigh Ann King's, but said Ann King had no power to alter the terms of the living will.

"The issue is what John P. King Jr. wants. That is clear by the terms of his living will," Masiuk said.


But again, I'd hate to try to make an assinine legal argument.

 

[Joz]

while you're capable, nobody is going to care. It's what happens when you're incapable that i'm talking about. Case in point....
the 72-year-old King had signed a living will,....
"The issue is what John P. King Jr. wants. That is clear by the terms of his living will," Masiuk said.

So ,why then is anyone considering inserting a tube?
I want something, you don't think I should so it doesn't happen because I can't argue my point. This is BS.

.....Medical science could come up with all kinds of breakthroughs 15 years from now......

I understand what you're saying. But I DO NOT want to be in the state Terri is in. I don't want to be put on any life support. When the time comes, let me go.

 

[pegwinn]

The Gentlemans will should be the primary source to determine his wishes. If I read the article correctly, the court concurs.

 

[SmarterThanYou]

So ,why then is anyone considering inserting a tube?
I want something, you don't think I should so it doesn't happen because I can't argue my point. This is BS.

did you read the whole story?

The man had a living will detailing what he wanted, yet its in court because someone is contesting it.

 

[Joz]

did you read the whole story?

The man had a living will detailing what he wanted, yet its in court because someone is contesting it.

You stated, "I was told that future legal agruments would be assinine". Apparently not.

 

[Annie]

So ,why then is anyone considering inserting a tube?
I want something, you don't think I should so it doesn't happen because I can't argue my point. This is BS.

I understand what you're saying. But I DO NOT want to be in the state Terri is in. I don't want to be put on any life support. When the time comes, let me go.

So make sure your child or husband or important other has the capacity to fulfill your wishes. That is what I'm saying.

 

[dilloduck]

So make sure your child or husband or important other has the capacity to fulfill your wishes. That is what I'm saying.

Yup---to bad Terri didn't pick a capable hubby or she woulda been outta this 15 years ago.

 

[SmarterThanYou]

You stated, "I was told that future legal agruments would be assinine". Apparently not.

thank you.

 

[no1tovote4]

Lawyers will always be in business. No more handshakes anymore. With any family member able to contest a will, who's to say they couldn't step in with a living will also?

Maybe Billie Shakespeare was right, "Kill all the lawyers..."

 

[no1tovote4]

did you read the whole story?

The man had a living will detailing what he wanted, yet its in court because someone is contesting it.

That is so wrong....

In the case of Terry Schiavo I was unsure what the woman wished or that she had a fair hearing in the courts. In this case it is clear what he wished, it should be complied with.

 

[dilloduck]

Maybe Billie Shakespeare was right, "Kill all the lawyers..."

at least put em jail for a long time

 

[dmp]

I'm waiting for the first will to be contested or validated based on what somebody posts on an Internet forum.

 

[Adam's Apple]

A law school student had written a letter to the editor saying that perhaps the best way to handle the "living will" would be to have a place on the back of your driver's license where you could indicate your desires, much the same way you do to be an organ donor. But after reading these posts, I can see that if you had a spouse like Michael Schiavo, s/he could cut up your driver's license and throw it away, and it would be the same difference as not having your wishes known. You'd be back to square one. So much for what seemed like a pretty good idea.

 

[MyName]

I'm waiting for the first will to be contested or validated based on what somebody posts on an Internet forum.

 

[dilloduck]

I'm waiting for the first will to be contested or validated based on what somebody posts on an Internet forum.

LOL no joke---better be careful what ya say and use appropriate smilies !!!

 

[Bonnie]

SOYLENT GREEN!!!!!!!

 

[Bonnie]

A law school student had written a letter to the editor saying that perhaps the best way to handle the "living will" would be to have a place on the back of your driver's license where you could indicate your desires, much the same way you do to be an organ donor. But after reading these posts, I can see that if you had a spouse like Michael Schiavo, s/he could cut up your driver's license and throw it away, and it would be the same difference as not having your wishes known. You'd be back to square one. So much for what seemed like a pretty good idea.

There's another school of thought regarding organ donation which is, that you may want to really think that one thru lest you may not get a real valiant effort to save your life if someone really needs your kidneys???

 

[Adam's Apple]

To follow up my previous post, I was discussing the law student's suggestion with a couple of friends last night, and I should not have been so quick to dismiss it as not worthy of further consideration. One of my friends said that if this suggestion was actually implemented, a record would be kept at the state DMV, so it could not be disputed that a record was on file. I personally like this idea of putting your desires regarding life support on the back of a person's driver's license. Makes a lot of sense to me, and it would save people money in legal fees.