Question on Preparation of Advanced Care Directives

[clcm]

I am an attorney in Washington. My state, like most others, has statutory language that can be used for an advanced care directive. Since this language has a presumption in favor of death, I prepared a directive that comports with the moral teachings of the Church.

The problem is how to handle clients who either disagree with or simply wish to disregard this moral teaching and want the standard statutory form. If I give them the statutory form, and they sign it making selections requesting the withholding of artificial nutrition and hydration if the are in a persisitive vegitative state or terminially ill, would I be contributing to their suicide?

Alternatively, what if my assistant (who does not mind doing so) gives them the statutory form or I direct them to another attorney in my firm to prepare that document?

I am currenlty not preparing any of the statutory forms, and I talk with clients at length about the signficance of the decisions made on Advanced Care Directives. However, I am also taking a lot of heat at my firm and I fear that I will soon be told to give the clients the forms they request if I want to continue to work at the firm…

 

[IoA]

Clcm:

I do not believe that you are in any way morally culpable if you raise objections to those who, by legal right, choose to go in a direction differing from what Catholic teaching suggests. Tell people how you feel, what you urge them to do. And if they do differently, then at least you gave it your best shot.

By the way, it’s good to see a good person in your profession. :tiphat:

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I would not think that all your clients are Catholic? Taking the que from the issue of divorce cases a few years ago. I would say that you should avoid if possible becoming involved in drawing up end-of-life medical directives. As with divorce if it becomes necessary for you to handle these you should make you opinion known.

 

[Grayton]

I am also an attorney. I used to worry about this issue a lot while I worked in a law firm.

I see the dilemna as being different from that posed by divorce. You can just choose not to handle divorces, period, and still make a living. But the Advanced Care Directive is usually part of an overall estate plan. To avoid preparing the directive is to give up a valuable service to clients because of one choice they wish to make.

You may be doing all that you can to guide your clients, given your role. If you want to risk giving up your clients, that is your choice, but it may be a heroic one.

Let me offer two observations from my experience:

1. In my state, all that an Advanced Care Directive legally does is empower someone (whom we call the “Patient Advocate”) to make decisions of life and death for the person who signs it. The Patient Advocate is legally protected if he follows the signer’s wishes, but the Patient Advocate is not legally bound to do so. Unltimately, the Patient Advocate must follow his own conscience and do the right thing.
2. As a practical matter, once a person becomes very ill and is hospitalized, the hospital staff cannot take the time to read the Advanced Care Directive in detail. They generally ask the Patient Advocate to classify the type of treatment according to their own defined categories. I have seen three choices given, none of which really fit Catholic teaching - even in a Catholic hospital. So, unless the Patient Advocate is there in the emergency and giving real time informed direction, events may well proceed without regard to how well you as the attorney did or did not draft the Advanced Care Directive. (I would be very interested in any observations from the medical professionals in this forum on this point.)

God bless you.