Story Published:
Apr 7, 2010 at 7:47 PM CST
Story Updated:
Apr 7, 2010 at 7:47 PM CST
There surely can't be too many who watched her life-and-death struggle play out on national TV. It was a drama that captured the attention of all of us as the media descended on the nursing home in Largo, Florida.
Politicians from President Bush and Senator Frist entered the fray as the nation tried to comprehend why Terri had to die. You see, she had not completed a living will, as most of us have not.
Thus, her husband was allowed by law to make her end-of-life decision. Her parents, under the law, had no standing. Terri was unable to communicate her wishes for herself because her brain had been deprived of oxygen for a period of time leaving her with a deficit.
While she was not brain dead, she was unable to function as you and I do on a daily basis. Neither was she in a coma.
An intense battle in the courts between her husband on the one hand, who wished for her to die, and her parents who wished to keep her alive in her persistent vegetative state.
Had she completed the necessary legalities beforehand, she would have made her end-of-life wishes known and much heartache could have been avoided.
It's so important to have your wishes in writing so that the courts won't have to make the decision for you. Her case went back and forth in the Pinellas County Florida courts, the Florida legislature, and even in Congress.
Her case emphasized the absolute necessity for advance care planning.
Yet most adults, even after five years from Terri's case, have not completed these directives. Such fate could befall any of us. Who will be there to make those end-of-life decisions for us.
Without specific directives in writing, those decisions will be done by those empowered by law.
Each of us needs a living will and a health care power of attorney. Such forms can be obtained at www.alivehospice.org.
Several copies, with the original held in a safe deposit box and the copies distributed to family members, should be made.
Make your wishes known while you can.
