April 3, 2002
Living wills need change
I must agree with The Republic's position regarding Arizona law on living wills. The immunity currently enjoyed by health care providers should be extended to family members.
When my father passed away last July, my brother and I were nearly faced with a choice similar to that of John Pfeifer's wife and son, with the exception that my father was comatose and unable to express his wishes except as he had spelled out in his living will.
Had his condition not been so poor as to defy life-preservation efforts, he would have remained in that condition indefinitely. At that point, the health care providers could have done nothing more; thus their responsibility - both legal, ethical and moral - was complete. The moral responsibility for sending my father on his way belonged to my brother and me. Yet the law would have branded us criminals, should the county attorney see fit to prosecute, despite the fact that the state has no interest in a situation where life, except a living death, cannot be preserved.
The current law should be changed. And now.