A living will may enable loved ones to make medical decisions for incapacitated patients

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Terri Schiavo is allowed to die in accordance with her alleged wishes. \nHer husband said she deserved to die.\nHer parents said she deserved to remain alive.\nThe fight has remained in the courts ever since.\nUnfortunately, Schiavo's exact thoughts and feelings about her medical treatment can not be known since she did not leave behind a living will.\nFortunately, Hoosiers can document their individual wishes before physical and mental impairment calls that medical decisions be made by caring others. Students and Bloomington residents can obtain a living will to indicate their medical preferences for such a time, despite possible objections from family, friends or their faith. \n"If events ever put you in a life or death situation -- if everyone is in agreement -- there is no problem," said Bloomington resident Chris Huntington, an estate planning attorney. "The problem occurs when there is conflict. Even if there isn't conflict, having (a living will) can be worthwhile."\nAssociate professor Noy S. Kay, who teaches the HPER class, S220 Death and Dying, said most of her students haven't written a living will and do not think about death since "it isn't the time yet."\n"It is important to be really prepared for one's own emotions if something happens to them or a loved one -- to understand and cope with loss," she said. "Sometimes when you have loss, people don't know how to cope and later it can be trouble."\nGraduate student Tim Campbell said public recognition of death seems to lurk in the shadows of life since "we don't often see people's last moments."\n"We as young people, we don't have to confront death very often," he said. "Death is so institutionalized -- it's in hospitals and very official spaces."\nA living will and other death documents can be obtained from a lawyer, Internet sites such as the U.S. Living Will Registry and through computer software. Typically, fees range from more than $100 for a living will to more than $1,000 for an entire estate plan. Most estimates claim about 70 percent of Americans do not have a living will, health care proxy or estate plan. \nHuntington said Hoosiers have three primary choices to consider in terms of medical care in cases of extreme brain and body impairment: to not provide any medical treatment, to always provide all available medical treatments and to allow health care providers to determine the best treatment options if any. \n"In a nutshell, if your death is eminent and you would prefer to avoid care that is excessively burdensome -- serving only to prolong the dying process -- in Indiana there is a specific set of options related to feeding tubes and IVs," Huntington said. "In Indiana, (a living will) needs to be witnessed by someone not responsible for financial care, someone who can not benefit financially from the death. Just about any attorney in Indiana can draw up (a living will)."\nHuntington said a living will can relieve the family of the burden of having to make difficult decisions. He also said a living will can aide the family in knowing the decision they make is what the patient would have wanted.\n"It's a difficult time in general," Huntington said. "It's can be a relief to know the decision in accordance with the patients wishes." \nHowever, Huntington said Hoosiers can expect "no guarantees" from a living will. Instead, he said, a living will might "extremely reduce" the chance conflict is likely to occur. \n"Simply keep a discussion going about your wishes with someone, at least let them know your feelings," he said. "If they don't know your feelings and the situation arises, all they can do is act on what they think your feelings are. If that conflicts with anybody else's beliefs, that's when you end up in court."\nKay said her class reaffirms the academic belief in a "death deny" society since most of her students indicate they weren't planning on thinking about dying until they reach an older age. \n"Until students accept, 'yes, it is a natural process,' they don't think it will happen to them. It takes awhile for people to think, 'oh yes, death can happen to me,'" Kay said. "People are interested in sex education, but when it comes to death education, people are like, 'agh.' If you are thinking about sex, death is also a natural process." \n-- Contact City & State Editor David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.