Terms, Law, Resources
What happens if you develop a terminal illness and you end up in a long-term coma, or have to use a ventilator to breathe?
This scenerio scares many people.
That's why thousands of Utahns are turning living wills.
It's a tool, they say, that enables them to "die with dignity."
Attorney Matt Osborne says, "The legislature's stated purpose in enacting the personal choice and living will act was to allow individuals to die with as much dignity and with the least pain possible."
A Living Will explains what life-sustaining treatments you want if you become terminally ill and can't communicate.
But attorneys say most Living Wills contain the vague phrase "terminal illness" when they should be specific.
"One can specify that they do not want certain procedures that prolong the dying process unnaturally or artificially. It can also specify whether they desire to receive nutrition or hydration through intravenous means," Osborne says.
Michael Donnelly's father suffered from congenital heart disease.
His father filled out a living will before his surgery.
But he became angry when he woke up from a surgery with tubes sticking out of his body.
He told his son he assumed the living will was clear about his wishes not to live in such a state.
"I said do you regret the fact that you may not survive this? He said absolutely not. When I woke up in the ICU and realized what was happening to me, I felt betrayed."
After his father's death four years ago, Donnelly redid his living will.
He says a living will can relieve the burden from your family of having to decide.
"It's not something you want to decide at the last minute," Donnelly says.
He also urges people to formulate a living will before a trip to the hospital.
"That responsibility becomes someone else's, so it's very important, early, early, early, early. Do I want to be an organ donor? Do I ever want to be on a ventilator? Do I want to be in a critical care unit for six months?"
For more information on living wills, call our Family Now information line at 1-800-575-5751.
