What Are Some of the Problems with Living Wills?
1. The standard living will documents refer only to the termination of treatment. Most living wills only allow you to designate that you want certain medical treatments withheld or withdrawn, and “that [you] be permitted to die naturally with only the administration of medication or the performance of any medical procedure deemed necessary to provide [you] with comfortable care or to alleviate pain.”6 Some standard forms only allow you to say whether or not you want nutrition and fluids and whether or not you wish to donate your organs for transplantation. The desire to donate your organs at death is a very personal decision and one that you should make freely and without coercion. And, the decision to discontinue food and water is a very complex and critical issue in medicine. First, the provision of food and water is the most basic of care and cannot be characterized as an “extraordinary measure.” Second, to cause a person to starve to death intentionally is unjust active killing, wh
