Living will may not be enough
Will the creation of a living will and/or the designating of a power of attorney (“Taking control of your own death,” OPINION, April 6) really safeguard your last wishes when incapacitated? No, it won’t. And signing over rights may dramatically shorten your life, even if your condition is not terminal. You could also hasten your death in a painful manner.
Many Americans, witnessing the tragic death of Terri Schaivo and the court’s horrendous and inappropriate handling of her estranged husband’s case, rushed to attorneys and downloaded forms in hopes of documenting their last requests. Even if you don’t have a living will (actually a death will) many hospitals, since most are federally funded, will ask you to sign a standard one upon admission.
If you are not properly informed, whether you created your own standard will, via forms or signed a hospital one, you may well be signing your own execution papers, without a chance for a governor’s reprieve.
Some medical personnel believe by just signing such a document, it gives them carte blanche to dehydrate and starve you. Because a 1991 law is very vague, medical institutions interpret the practice of withholding food and water as a standard procedure. Food and water is considered medical treatment and not just basic care like it should in many states.
Even if you are not terminally ill and, say, injured in a car accident and unconscious, language used in the will could possibly prevent normal medical treatment. … We have many crackpots in institutions of higher learning (educated dummies) and anti-life organizations to thank for this insidious philosophy.
Designating a person you trust and giving them power of attorney may not be so foolproof either. First, doctors may disagree with a caregiver’s request in line with your expressed written desires. In some states, doctors can resort to appointing another family member, who may agree to withhold treatment, due to their diagnoses.
If there is money involved, you can bet some greedy relative would like to get their hands in the kitty. In three years of being a cancer patient, I have never heard an encouraging word from numerous doctors at top medical facilities.
Thank God, I turned to alternative medicine and only took some conventional advice. I credit it with my survival from aggressive cancer today. Not one doctor showed me how to get rid of 17 blood conditions, and my husband’s Internet research paid off in this respect.
Be careful and make sure your living will is all it’s meant to be. Cover all the bases.
Carolyn Bush,
Brookfield
Brookfield voters came out to support PEP
I was truly mortified to read Bill Russ’ statement last month where he claimed PEP “did a lot of hit pieces on him and that they did a real hatchet job and conducted a very dirty and negative campaign.”
He did not even have enough class to congratulate Mike [Garvey] on his victory. He used some lame excuse that he could not reach him. If you remember Bill, I sat next to you in the last election when Mike called you to say he won. You were totally rude and arrogant to him, as you were this election.
I worked for Bill for three years and know how his mind works. If he had any dirt on Michael Garvey, Kit Ketchmark, Cathy Edwards or Michael Towner, he would have used it. … It just so happens there is no dirt on the PEP Party, something the VIP Party cannot say about their group. Then the president of VIP said “too many people thought we were going to win big and didn’t come out to vote.” Well, Tom, they did come out and vote?”check the numbers. And they voted VIP right out of office.
What exactly did VIP accomplish in four years other than getting a CVS? They fixed some streets, but not without controversy. They filed a lot of lawsuits that they lost. They did most things back-door style. They fired a lot of hard-working, honest people. They almost bankrupted the village. They wrote personal loan checks to their friends. I could go on and on. But the truth will come out exactly what they did, and then let’s see if anyone in their right mind thinks PEP ran a negative campaign.
Face it, Bill Russ, you were outclassed and outvoted. I only hope the two remaining VIP members do not listen to you and cause turmoil in the new administration. I know you will be behind the scenes pulling their strings. Don’t.
The people of the village have spoken. You lost, case closed. Let PEP do the work they campaigned on. Let them bring back integrity and honesty to this village. The village deserves to be brought back to an honest and fair government.
It needs to move along in the right direction. There is a lot of work to be done. Please, if you care anything about this village, you will stay out of it. And if you truly care about the village, you will congratulate Mike, Kit, Cathy and Michael Towner on their victory and not make any more derogatory comments.
Yes, PEP will talk about things, unlike your administration, where you shot from the hip and asked questions later. Most of the time you did things wrong and then had to spend more of the taxpayers money to fix it.
Face it, Bill, you are done, and it could not have been more well deserved.
Michele Catanzaro,
Brookfield
