What is a living will, why is it important, how to make a living will & how it can help our loved ones? On March 9th, 2018, the Supreme court of India allowed passive euthanasia and recognized a directive of a terminally ill patient to withdraw life support. The court also put into place guidelines until this becomes a formal law. Let me write what is a living will and its importance.
What is a living will? A Living Will, also known as an advanced directive, is a set of instructions to the doctors treating us and our relatives in the event that we become so ill that recovery is not possible and all medical treatment can do is to prolong our life.Using a living will we instruct doctors about what method of treatments are acceptable to us and when treatment can be stopped to allow us to die a natural death. This a known as passive euthanasia.This will come into effect only if the illness of the patient is incurable and there is no hope of his being cured.
A living will have nothing to do with the usual will employed to distribute one’s wealth and estate after demise. Note: The executor of a living will is the person who writes the will. If he/she is not in a position to execute the will, an appointed surrogate will do so.In such an event, the supreme court has said that the “inherent right to die with dignity” is an intrinsic part of our constitution.
Why is it important? By the time, a living will can be invoked, we would have probably lost consciousness. So, although it would be nice to die with “dignity”, at that time we would not be in a position to “discern”.
Choice of schemes: A living will is not for us. It is for the benefit of our loved ones. We can give them a clear indication such as:“if I slip into a coma, remove ventilators, stop feeding via tubes and turn out any and all devices which assist in life support”Usually, when a loved one is in a coma, we would cling on to hope and/or feel guilty if we did not do everything possible to treat them. Hospitals will be happy to oblige if we have the money to spend. What is the point of doing this when all we are doing is delaying the inevitable?Would you agree that if you are the one lying in bed in that state (where recovery is not possible) you would prefer to die a quick death and not just be biologically alive?If your answer is “YES”, then you need to write down a living will. This way, you remove guilt from the minds of your relatives. You save them time and more importantly money – perhaps your own, which can be used in better ways ex. for charity.
The basis of the living will The following extracts from the court judgement clarify the need for a living will: The inherent right to die with dignity which is an inextricable facet of Article 21 of the ConstitutionIt is set forth that right to die sans pain and suffering is fundamental to one‘s bodily autonomy and such integrity does not remotely accept any effort that puts the individual on life support without any ray of hope and on the contrary, the whole regime of treatment continues in spite of all being aware that it is a Sisyphean* endeavor, an effort to light a bulb without the filament or to expect a situation to be in an apple pie order when it is actually in a state of chaos* A task that cannot be completed, from Greek mythology This essentially forces the hand of the government to bring about legislation in this regard. Until such a time, the court has laid down the procedure to execute the advanced directive.This will help hospitals and doctors a way to handle such situations under the letter of the law without any mental conflict.
Who can write a living will?As should be obvious, any major who is of sound mind can issue an advanced directive or a document titled My Living Will and Attorney Authorization. The directives should be clear and should not have been made under any kind of pressure.
I know what you are thinking: the person might naturally die before all this gets done! I hope so too, but it might not pan out that way.
