LIVING WILLS

For all of the medical knowledge, legal wrangling, and family anguish expended over the fate of Terri Schiavo, the most pivotal question remains unanswered forever: Would the Florida woman want to go on living in a vegetative state?

That mystery could have been solved with a simple piece of paper — a living will written by Terri Schiavo making clear how she would want to be treated medically if she no longer could communicate. A living will would have made her wishes known whether or not to be kept on artificial life support or nutrition. Lacking a living will, Terri Schiavo’s husband, her parents, a succession of judges, the Florida Legislature, Gov. Jeb Bush, and even Congress had to intervene to decide whether she should live or die 15 years after collapsing in her home.

As competent adults, we have the right to make decisions in advance as to whether or not we would like to decline life support when it is clear that death is imminent or a state of coma becomes permanent. Today, life support systems can keep an individual’s body alive for years, even if the brain is no longer functioning.

While the highly charged Terri Schiavo case may be unusual for the bitter legal battle it spawned, it highlights a widespread problem. All 50 states have laws recognizing living wills; however, these laws are inadequate in the face of deeply divided families and paltry clues when a written and signed document (living will) is not available to prove a patient’s wishes.

The vacuum invites fights over administering expensive medical care that patients may not want, intrusive court actions to make the most personal of choices, and family battles at an already trying time.

Fifteen years after the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a patient’s constitutional right to refuse life support, only one in five adults has written a living will, according to Partnership for Caring, an advocacy group for improving end-of-life care. Yet as medical advances enable machines to keep severely brain-damaged and comatose patients alive, the need for such directives has grown. What is clear is that few people have made their wishes known.

A living will puts the choice of life or death where it belongs – with the individual. Making your wishes known in a living will is the best way to avoid the kind of wrenching battle that was waged over Terri Schiavo. The long legal battle between Terri Schiavo’s husband and her parents can teach us one important lesson: make your wishes known regarding health care. A living will ensures that others will know your wishes, because your wishes will be documented.

Jeffery J. McKenna is a local attorney licensed in three states and serving clients in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. He is a partner at the law firm of Barney, McKenna and Olmstead, with offices in St. George and Mesquite. He is a founding member of the Southern Utah Estate Planning Council. If you have questions or topics that you would like addressed in these Wednesday articles please email him at jmckenna@www.barney-mckenna.com or call 628-1711.