My “Living Will”
I, Sean Fitzmorris, being of sound mind & body, and the fact I’m posting this on the Internet notwithstanding, do hereby make this my request should I ever be incapacitated by injury, disease, or other life-threatening process.
Under no circumstances are any healthcare providers, paid or volunteer, to perform CPR on me, including artificial respirations or chest compressions. There are exceedingly few people that survive such therapy and frankly, I’d rather use that slim chance to win the lottery.
Should the preceding request go unheeded and I am on a ventilator, under no circumstances should artificial ventilation continue for more than one week. If I cannot be taken off the ventilator in that time, please remove the endotracheal tube or whatever artificial airway is in my body and turn off the ventilator. I will take my chances.
Under no circumstances am I to be fed. This includes tube feedings via any port in my body including intravenous, nasogastric, orogastric, percutaneous endogastric or duodenal routes, or even if someone should offer to cut up my food and/or feed it to me. Should the recommendation for such a form of nourishment be mentioned as part of my care, I summarily refuse it.
I refuse any procedure involving a cerebral angiogram.
I refuse any “clot-busting” agents, including tissue Plasminogen Activator, streptokinase, retavase or any other drug used for this purpose. I do not want to hemorrhage in my brain or any other organ I am using.
Any of my organs or tissues may be harvested for donation. However, if it is recommended that I receive any donated tissues or organs, I summarily refuse. I’ve seen those poor souls after getting an organ transplant, and it may be life, but not as I know it or want it.
Under no circumstances am I to be dialyzed, in any way, shape or form, including hemodialysis, CVVHD, SLED, or CAPD. I am a happy person, and dialysis is just sad.
Should the recommendation be made that I have artificial holes created in my body for the purpose of breathing, eating, nourishment, or excreting waste of any kind, I summarily refuse it. This includes tracheostomy, tracheotomy, cricothyrotomy, colostomy, nephrostomy, ileostomy, suprapubic catheter, PEG tube or any other ostomy.
Should the time ever come when I cannot clean my own anus under my own power, all medicines I am receiving are to be stopped, all nourishment is to be halted, and all hydration, oral or intravascular, is to be ceased. I will either get better or die; either is preferable to me.
Under no circumstances am I ever to be placed in a nursing home, skilled nursing facility, long-term care facility, or any other place of similar ilk. Allow me the dignity of dying in my own home or that of my loved ones.
Should the circumstances of my death be attributable to stupidity of my own causing, feel free to laugh and poke fun at my corpse. I would have loved the joke, too. But do not subject me to any of the situations I have outlined above. Thank you.
Sean Fitzmorris
7 December 2010
3 comments:
"I do". xx
Applause, applause! Have it in writing and distributed to all medical providers. Have a copy in your car and on your refrigerator. Have a copy taped to your chest. The next step is to make sure all (and not just one or two - all) of your family is aware of this. As a trauma nurse, I found the best outcomes are acheived when the family could tell me there is no doubt in their mind what X would say they want done. Or not done.
After reading "Morphine, ice cream, tears" I'd much rather prefer to die naturally. Or at least have some morphine or heroine in me.
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