Life-and-death decisions have been bothering me lately. It started when I read an article about Peggy Pabst Battin, a Utah philosophy professor whose husband, Brooke Hopkins, had a bicycle accident that left him a quadriplegic. The area of philosophy that she focused on was human suffering, suicide, euthanasia, a dignified death and then the issues suddenly turned quite personal. This professor was, and still is, an international expert in bioethics. She believes that everyone has their own right to determine when they expire.
Brooke had coincidentally updated his living will shortly before the accident specifying that should he suffer a grievous illness or injury leading to a terminal condition or vegetative state, he wanted no procedures done that “would serve only to unnaturally prolong the moment of my death and to unnaturally postpone or prolong the dying process.” Technically the living will is the document that determines the application of life-sustaining or death delaying treatment to your person. Some states like New York have health care proxies and other states like Georgia have the advanced directive for health care. Georgia had the living will until 2007 because it was legislated that the advanced directive would be a better way to more specifically tell your healthcare provider when the right time is to “pull the plug.” So if you have a Georgia living will created after July 2007, be careful, as healthcare providers are not obligated to follow it.
The article that talks about the trials and tribulations that Brooke suffered since his accident may be found here at bit.ly/life4321. The article emphasizes that there were many times when Brooke requested to be taken off his ventilator and all other forms life-support to be removed. Sometimes his wife complied and other times she did not. Every time Brooke would request to and life-support, he would come back from that decision and say they did not actually want to stop life-support. The point of the article is that the termination of life and removing life-support is often anything but a clear issue even for those who have already expressed their wishes or for those that are called upon to follow those wishes. Even for the person who is an expert in end of life issues, the duty of being an agent on behalf of the terminally ill person on life-support is not easy. Brooke is still alive today.
My aunt and godmother passed away last month. She was on a ventilator for a long time and when she regained consciousness she told my uncle, her agent, that she wanted the ventilator removed. She had a living will that expressed her wishes that she should be allowed to die naturally. When asked if she understood what would happen if the ventilator would be removed, she confirmed and expressed that she would expire. She was ready. So it was removed and she did pass away peacefully.
It's never easy dealing with end-of-life issues. The advance directive for health care is the best instrument that a (Georgia) trust and estates attorney has to deal with the uncertain situations regarding life-support. The more thought, effort, and planning that goes into creating the document, the better informed and equipped the agent will be on behalf of the terminal patient. People usually do not expect incapacity, often it just happens and when it does, it’s best to be prepared.
Robert S. Meyring of Meyring Law Firm is located in Vinings Village, Atlanta and offers complimentary 10 minute phone consultations at 678-217-4369 meyring@meyringfirm.com
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