Help with making an advanced directive for class

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Odell

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This is a Advanced Directive that I have to fill out for school. Can anybody help me? What would you initial and why? Of course I want to stick to Catholic morality So any help from people who knows this stuff better than I would be great.

Thanks

My Desire for a Natural Death
I, __________________________, being of sound mind, desire that, as specified below, my life not be prolonged by life-prolonging measures:
  1. When My Directives Apply
    My directions about prolonging my life shall apply IF my attending physician determines that I lack capacity to make or communicate health care decisions and:
    NOTE: YOU MAY INITIAL ANY OR ALL OF THESE CHOICES.
(Initial)
I have an incurable or irreversible condition that will result in my death within a relatively short period of time.
(Initial)
I become unconscious and my health care providers determine that, to a high degree of medical certainty, I will never regain my consciousness.
(Initial)
I suffer from advanced dementia or any other condition which results in the substantial loss of my cognitive ability and my health care providers determine that, to a high degree of medical certainty, this loss is not reversible.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: You can use this Advance Directive (“Living Will”) form to give instructions for the future if you want your health care providers to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging measures in certain situations. You should talk to your doctor about what these terms mean. The Living Will states what choices you would have made for yourself if you were able to communicate. Talk to your family members, friends, and others you trust about your choices. Also, it is a good idea to talk with professionals such as your doctors, clergypersons, and lawyers before you complete and sign this Living Will.
You do not have to use this form to give those instructions, but if you create your own Advance Directive you need to be very careful to ensure that it is consistent with North Carolina law.
This Living Will form is intended to be valid in any jurisdiction in which it is presented, but places outside North Carolina may impose requirements that this form does not meet.
If you want to use this form, you must complete it, sign it, and have your signature witnessed by two qualified witnesses and proved by a notary public. Follow the instructions about which choices you can initial very carefully. Do not sign this form until two witnesses and a notary public are present to watch you sign it. You then should consider giving a copy to your primary physician and/or a trusted relative, and should consider filing it with the Advanced Health Care Directive Registry maintained by the North Carolina Secretary of State: nclifelinks.org/ahcdr/
2. These are My Directives about Prolonging My Life:
In those situations I have initialed in Section 1, I direct that my health care providers:
NOTE: INITIAL ONLY IN ONE PLACE.
(Initial)
may withhold or withdraw life-prolonging measures.
(Initial)
shall withhold or withdraw life-prolonging measures.
3. Exceptions – “Artificial Nutrition or Hydration”
NOTE: INITIAL ONLY IF YOU WANT TO MAKE EXCEPTIONS TO YOUR INSTRUCTIONS IN PARAGRAPH 2.
EVEN THOUGH I do not want my life prolonged in those situations I have initialed in Section 1:
(Initial)
I DO want to receive BOTH artificial hydration AND artificial nutrition (for example, through tubes) in those situations.
NOTE: DO NOT INITIAL THIS BLOCK IF ONE OF THE BLOCKS BELOW IS INITIALED.
(Initial)
I DO want to receive ONLY artificial hydration (for example, through tubes) in those situations.
NOTE: DO NOT INITIAL THE BLOCK ABOVE OR BELOW IF THIS BLOCK IS INITIALED.
(Initial)
I DO want to receive ONLY artificial nutrition (for example, through tubes) in those situations.
NOTE: DO NOT INITIAL EITHER OF THE TWO BLOCKS ABOVE IF THIS BLOCK IS INITIALED.
4. I Wish to be Made as Comfortable as Possible
I direct that my health care providers take reasonable steps to keep me as clean, comfortable, and free of pain as possible so that my dignity is maintained, even though this care may hasten my death.
5. I Understand my Advance Directive
I am aware and understand that this document directs certain life-prolonging measures to be withheld or discontinued in accordance with my advance instructions.
6. If I have an Available Health Care Agent
If I have appointed a health care agent by executing a health care power of attorney or similar instrument, and that health care agent is acting and available and gives instructions that differ from this Advance Directive, then I direct that:
(Initial)
Follow Advance Directive: This Advance Directive will override instructions my health care agent gives about prolonging my life.
(Initial)
Follow Health Care Agent: My health care agent has authority to override this Advance Directive.
NOTE: DO NOT INITIAL BOTH BLOCKS. IF YOU DO NOT INITIAL EITHER BOX, THEN YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS WILL FOLLOW THIS ADVANCE DIRECTIVE AND IGNORE THE INSTRUCTIONS OF YOUR HEALTH CARE AGENT ABOUT PROLONGING YOUR LIFE.
 
I would not fill this out or sign it AT ALL.

I would suggest you visit the American Life League website and read this article on the topic.
 
1ke said:
I would not fill this out or sign it AT ALL.

I would suggest you visit the American Life League website and read this article on the topic.
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I love the website but the only problem is I can only order this loving will and it want be in on time the home work is due this week.

I always thought that I could fill out a living will and it coincide with my faith. But now after reading this I dont even want to do the home work. What should I do?

Could you help me do some what of a loving will?

thanks for the help
 
Please be aware that all medical intervention of whatever kind or degree is a prolongation of life. Doctors do not save lives, they merely prolong them.
That being said the document you have copied is not in any way contrary to Catholic morality. It does not endorse or condone euthanasia. It merely sets down guidelines for the degree of medical intervention you want to exercise in prolonging your life. There is a space for insisting on hydration and feeding tubes that most people would want to check, so you’re covered there. Fill it out, sign it and send it back to the school.
If this is for school, have you shown this and discussed this with your parents and/or godparents?

Matthew
 
drafdog said:
Please be aware that all medical intervention of whatever kind or degree is a prolongation of life. Doctors do not save lives, they merely prolong them.
That being said the document you have copied is not in any way contrary to Catholic morality. It does not endorse or condone euthanasia. It merely sets down guidelines for the degree of medical intervention you want to exercise in prolonging your life. There is a space for insisting on hydration and feeding tubes that most people would want to check, so you’re covered there. Fill it out, sign it and send it back to the school.
If this is for school, have you shown this and discussed this with your parents and/or godparents?

Matthew
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Well its for collage and my mom has passed away. Only one who should know is my wife.
 
What about oxegen?

What would any of you do in this case?

Also my teacher would want feeding tubes and water not to be given.

What would you say?

Is all this because we are losing the intrinsic value of suffering in our culture?

Thanks for all the help
 
Odell said:
What about oxegen?

What would any of you do in this case?

Also my teacher would want feeding tubes and water not to be given.

What would you say?

Is all this because we are losing the intrinsic value of suffering in our culture?

Thanks for all the help
Click to expand...
Not sure if oxygen has to be listed as a separate line. If the body is being kept in a constant state of hydration and nutrition, then I believe that anything done on a respirator is covered (and a given?).
Your teacher want feeding tubes and water to not be used…why? It does not cause “instant death”. The person will slowly SLOWLY painfully starve and dehydrate to death. I believe it takes approximately two painful weeks at most. This is NOT acceptable by Church teaching. Now, if the person is brain-dead (no stimulus response at all) and cannot breathe without permanent assistance of a respirator, I believe that the church teaches it’s okay to unplug the machine. IF that is the only thing keeping the body alive. If the automatic functions (heartbeat, breathing) are still working on their own, you must provide food and water and comfort.

In case the person is in pain, and you keep giving morphine to ease the pain, and if the levels needed to stop the pain become lethal, it is not euthanasia. You should always keep in mind that every person is the image and likeness of Christ. Treat them (and yourself) in love, and that follows the church’s teachings.

Good luck, and God Bless!!!
 
drafdog said:
Please be aware that all medical intervention of whatever kind or degree is a prolongation of life. Doctors do not save lives, they merely prolong them.
That being said the document you have copied is not in any way contrary to Catholic morality. It does not endorse or condone euthanasia. It merely sets down guidelines for the degree of medical intervention you want to exercise in prolonging your life. There is a space for insisting on hydration and feeding tubes that most people would want to check, so you’re covered there. Fill it out, sign it and send it back to the school.
If this is for school, have you shown this and discussed this with your parents and/or godparents?

Matthew
Click to expand...
Actually, not all medical interventions prolong life. Some prolong death, the dying process. I go to a Catholic University and am a Catholic Nursing student, recently finishing a 400-level Theology class called “Suffering and Death.” I’m by no means an authority, but I do know a little about Catholic ethics in the medical field.
The biggest point about Catholic morality at the end of life is making sure the ill person is given any treatment that is within reasonable means to sustain life. It is not permissible to withdraw food or fluids if the body is still able to metabolize it. There comes a point when the dying body automatically shuts down and will no longer profuse the GI tract. This is a normal part of dying. That being said, no measure should be taken that would cause the body to begin to shut down if it wasn’t already on that path. People who are in a vegetable state, who are fully capable of digesting or processing food, even if intravenously should be provided nutrients if it sustains life. If treatments or procedures is only prolonging death or bringing death on sooner, these treatments are not required. An example is a child with cancer getting chemotherapy, vs. a 98 year old man with cancer getting chemotherapy. The child probaby has a good chance to survive or at least have a longer life with the chemo. Chemotherapy would probably kill the 98year old man with cancer, so probably wouldn’t be appropriate. It is not just the treatment, it is the intent and the outcomes that you must weigh. You have to consider risks vs. benefits. Dignity of human life must be preserved.

In the case of Advanced Directives, I would recommend for the “real deal”, you fill one out with a priest and also whomever you will be appointing as your surrogate decision maker in the event you are unable to communicate. That way you have the resources of a priest, and whoever will be your voice if you are incapacitated is there to hear you loud and clear while you are alive.
 
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