Much has been written over the Terri Schiavo case from all perspectives. No matter where you stand on this issue, one thing becomes perfectly clear, and that is, the need for all of us to clarify how we would want our loved ones to proceed should we find ourselves in a similar situation.
Schiavo's husband has said all along that his wife had once stated she would never want to be kept alive by artificial means. His insistence on removing her feeding tube is, he has stated, in keeping with her wishes. But her parents knew nothing of this, and even questioned his motives for doing this.
Once a person is comatose or in a persistant vegetative state like Schiavo, the only way to verify that person's wishes is to have something in writing stating what those wishes are. Many states now offer a space on the back on one's driver's license to indicate whether or not the licensee is an organ donor, enabling health care professionals to harvest organs in the event of a fatality. Many people, who are terminally ill, will sign a waiving indicating that, if they should go into cardiac arrest, doctors should not attempt to resuscitate them.
But few of us have actually thought about how we would like to be treated if we were not able to speak on our own behalf. Terri Schiavo's case has brought new awareness to this situation, making it clear just how important it can be to have something in writing regarding these arrangements.
A quick search of the Internet yields a number of sites that offer simply health care proxy forms that can be printed out, and then completed and filed with one's personal papers. These forms are not elaborate, but simply spell out the types of treatment that you wish to undergo. The New York State Bar Association offers a form on their website which essentially directs one's physician to 'withhold or withdraw treatment that serves only to prolong the process of my dying, if I should be in an incurable or irreversible mental or physical condition with no reasonable expectation of recovery.' This form also directs the withholding of cardiac resuscitation, mechanical respiration, and tube feeding, while at the same time allowing for the administration of means by which to relieve pain.
Once the form is filled out and signed in front of a witness, a copy should be filed with one's personal papers. Your doctor should also have a copy and one kept on file at your place of business. In doing this, your wishes will be clearly indicated, sparing your family the agony that Schiavo's family has endured.
