LIVING WILLS

While their article “Is a Living Will Enough?” by Drs. Wilkes and Shuchman (Mar. 4) was informative, I believe a greater distinction should be made between the relative worthlessness of a Living Will versus the effectiveness of the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (DPAHC), a document created by state statute.

The Living Will places the responsibility for making the ultimate decision to terminate life support in the hands of the physicians or medical ethicists. They will usually decline, understandably choosing to avoid the accountability that invariably follows such an action. The bus driver’s family was indeed fortunate to encounter such a cooperative ethics committee.

On the other hand, if his daughter had produced a DPAHC, designating her as his agent, executed by him and properly witnessed, the trip to the hospital and the subsequent treatment could have been precluded. This instrument does more than simply “help clarify what the patient would have wanted.” It stipulates that the agent can legally make the decision to order the action that the patient had chosen for himself.

Every adult in California should execute this document, which is available for $1 at stationery stores.

J. DEVEREAUX LEAHY, Ventura