esrosedotblog

911

Well, for one thing, why are all these people laughing? Or smiling. The victim has multiple fractures!

Anyway, that is not why the pic is up there.

We just finished another revision round on the living will front. We have rewritten ours a few times. The laws keep changing. And publicity illuminates the latest cracks in the system.

We did it as a matter of routine. I don't think that the Schaivo debacle, finally letting the body die, had much to do with it. But there we are filling out a new form.

One thing we learned a long time ago is that you do NOT use one of the standard form things. You get a lawyer. Preferably a trust attorney who specializes in end of life issues across the board. They all tie together.

Another thing is that here, as in most places, you have to be careful what you ask for, as you will probably get it. And it will be the last thing you get. A good attorney can sit with you and ask you questions about the feeding tube. And do you think that starvation is painful? And so on.

Now, to the picture. Our biggest revelation is that if you have a near death emergency and you dial 911, you automatically revoke all the provisions of your living will. If you don't want the paddles, don't dial 911. If you don't want a respirator, don't dial 911. The fact is that dialing 911 is a request for life extension no matter what.

Now, realistically, you are not going to have any say about it. If you are lying on the floor unconscious it is not you that is crying for help. It is your other. Or some other. They have a judgment to make and 911 may not be the default that you want. Think about it. You can undo the process that starts when you do the 911 call, but it is a long and difficult series of legal steps. Once on life extension, it is very hard to get off. Just ask Terry.

Well, what do you do? If there is hospice care in the picture you call them. They know what to do. If you are at home and one can drive you in, do that. Another thing is to talk about it to as many people who are close to you as possible. Let them know you would like some judgment before they hit that dial-up.

There are a lot of other things in the new form. Right to visitors; friends and family. Do you want to be cremated? What happens when your living will caretaker gets mashed up in the car with you?

None of this is too pleasant to think about but now is better than later when your thinking is on the fritz and someone else is trimming your sails. Better give them a few landmarks to sight on the way into port.