I know we're all sick of hearing about the Terri Schiavo case, but here's my contribution: GET AN ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE. As described in this article from the San Diego Union-Tribune, AHCDs completely relieve such a situation (i.e. incapacity to define your desires due to injury or medical issues) by defining who has the right to make such decisions in lieu of your ability to do so for yourself.
And don't wait "until you're older" to think about this: Terri was only 25 when she had the heart attack that has disabled her so radically for the past 15 years. Just put it down on paper and get it notarized. You don't have to hire a lawyer to draw up a document if you don't want to (unless you suspect there may be legal challenges should document need to be used at some point); just make your wishes known so that your family won't disagree so vehemently that they have to ask the President to intervene.
GET AN ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE. Now.
Tuesday, March 22
Failure to list wishes can put a patient in medical limbo
Posted by augmentedfourth at 10:14 AM
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The Geek Code desperately needs updating, but in any case here's mine (as of 2010-02-28):
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GIT/MU d+(-) s:+>: a C++> ULXB++++$ L+++ M++ w--() !O !V P+ E---
W+++ N o++ K? PS PE++ Y+ PGP t !5 X- R- tv+@ b++ DI++++ D--- e*++
h--- r+++ y+++ G+
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
If you really care about knowing what that all means, you either know the code already, or you can get it decoded for you here.
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