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An 82-Year-Old Woman Explains Why She Has a Living Will
Jump to full article: The Washington Post, 2009-09-01
Author: Ingrid Komar
Intro: I am 82 years old, have had a wonderful life and, although there are things I would still like to accomplish, I am not interested in merely extending my life via a much-diminished existence. As a result of smoking for many years, I have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. It is a debilitating disease. I can't walk very far without getting out of breath.
And I have a living will.
My disease is not curable, and it's only going to get worse, so several decades ago I drew up a document specifying exactly what medical care I do, and do not, want in my final days.
. . .
The proposed health reform legislation would provide reimbursement for seniors to review their living wills every five years, which seems sensible.
Based on experiences during my last hospitalization for COPD, I revised my living in 2004 to specify that I do not want to be treated with a breathing tube, should I have another crisis. In research I did on intubation, I learned that inserting a breathing tube is a difficult and traumatic procedure from which I would anticipate a long and difficult recovery that at best would leave me even more incapacitated than I am now. For me, it isn't worth it. Someone else in my condition might well make a different choice, but this is the choice I have put in my living will for my doctors and family to follow. . . .
We all have to die someday. But unlike billions of people who lived before us, we have a few choices regarding our final days. Why would we not exercise them?
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