How many times have you thought — or heard someone say: “I don’t want to be kept alive by a machine.”
As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, the public is learning about the importance of mechanical ventilators in providing temporary breathing support for many of those infected. Ventilators are saving lives!
A false understanding of respirators and ventilators has become commonplace in recent years. Many people think that these and similar machines’ only role is prolonging the dying process. The widely publicized treatment of COVID-19 patients is helping to dispel that myth. Many patients rely on machines temporarily every day for any number of reasons and go on to make full recoveries.
Unfortunately, many individuals have completed advance health care directives stating or suggesting that they do not wish to receive breathing assistance through mechanical ventilation.
Please take the time to review any advanced medical directives (including POLST forms) signed by you or your loved ones to make sure they are clear that mechanical ventilation is not among the forms of care that are refused. If there is any ambiguity, you may want to consider writing, signing, and dating an addendum specifying that mechanical ventilation is authorized.
If you have not already done so, we also encourage you to think about preparing an advance health care directive—especially if you are in a high-risk group. It is important to be sure your documents indicate that you want mechanical ventilation in the event you are unable to express your health care wishes. Click here for Life Legal’s guidance on advance health care directives, which includes a link to state-specific advance directive templates.
If you or someone you know is having trouble receiving life-sustaining medical care, please contact us at info@lldf.org or 707.224.6675.
The above comes from a March 26 release from Life Legal Defense Foundation.
Too bad the President does not think they are worth it!
Advanced health care directives are not applicable in acute, life threatening situations. They are only applied in end of life scenarios where meaningful recovery (as stipulated in the AD) is unlikely. If someone who is previously healthy and needs a ventilator as a result of an acute infection, and there is one available, an AD that stipulates no mechanical ventilation will not be applied.
The cheap shots against the President with false information are a typical jealous leftwing tactic. He’s handling the crisis brilliantly.
Anon, I agree that when we are in a crisis like this one, cheap shots against the President are not useful and shouldn’t happen, regardless of the political party. Any criticism or praise should be based on facts and observable behavior. In the current situation, it is fair to ask the President to deal with facts, not aspirational announcements. The COVID-19 pandemic is not the President’s fault. But his reaction to it and his administration’s response to the problems is open to praise or critique. We as a nation are way behind the curve because we did not treat the threat of the virus seriously enough. In fact, there is video evidence of the President saying that, essentially, there was nothing to worry about. He referred to the threat as someone’s hoax to bring him down. He said he didn’t believe there was a need for large numbers of ventilators. He made misstatements of fact in one press briefing after another and had to be corrected by the scientist on the dais. He is not handling the crisis brilliantly. Would that he would!
I agree. The other side wanted open borders with no one being checked for diseases when coming in, now they complain that it is all President Trump’s fault. They have no one to blame but themselves.and subconsciously they know that whether they will admit or not.
At what point will one want to stop ‘life saving’ efforts? One can not play God. I’m not going to take a pill, or otherwise speed the natural.process. I just pray I go quickly in a clear cut manner.
Euthanasia is the current front line of the culture of Death, now that abortion in Virginia and New York can be post-parturition by keeping the baby comfortable while the mother decides up or down. We have an odious Physician-assisted suicide bill fully operational in California. Hey, we even invented The movement of Eugenics here at Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., long before the German Nation executed the ideology.