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The following article is from the SAVES newsletter, The
VE Bulletin, Vol 15 No 3, Nov 98
Using the Living Will
While we may at times despair at the time it is taking to have voluntary
euthanasia legalised, we should not lose sight of the value of existing
legislation. SAVES provides guidelines for the use of the Living Will,
legal under South Australia's Consent to Medical Treatment Act 1995. It
allows us to state our wishes for medical treatment or non-treatment in
particular circumstances in advance, should we be unable to speak for ourselves
at the time. In what follows, a member writes of her experience in its
use (Schedule 2 of the Act):-
As a member of SAVES I had obtained a set of Schedule 2 forms, intending
to complete them for myself. Before I could do so, my mother suffered a
heart attack. She was hospitalised and pneumonia set in. I requested that
antibiotics be given, she recovered and in due course returned home.
My mother, aged 92, was very independent. She was still in her own home
and was mentally very alert. We had discussed voluntary euthanasia and
she had become a member of SAVES.
She had only been home a few weeks when she fell and broke her hip and
had to return to hospital. When the customary pre-op check-up was taking
place, I overheard my mother say to the anaesthetist that if something
were to go wrong during the operation she did not want to be resuscitated.
She and I then discussed this issue. Fortunately I had the Schedule 2 forms
with me, and it was her wish to fill them in. The hospital pharmacist interviewed
her and duly witnessed the forms.
The operation went well but immediately after she suffered a slight
transient ischaemic attack. She almost recovered but her age caught up
with her. She became very frail and developed pneumonia again. Her heart
was failing rapidly and she was given a week to live.
Morphine had been administered on a regular basis. The day before mother
died I told her that we were going to stay with her until the end. To my
surprise she squeezed my hand in gratitude. The next day she slipped away
peacefully.
I feel strongly that the Schedule 2 form helped us all make a humane
decision for my dear mother.
Tell Someone Where It Is
I am pleased to report a satisfactory sequel to last year's distress call
(see VE Bulletin November 1997) when the family of one of our members was
unable to locate their grandmother's Living Will. She was unconscious in
hospital after suffering a severe stroke, with the treating doctors about
to embark on drastic measures to keep her alive unless the Living Will
recorded her wishes to the contrary.
The Living Will was located and produced. The medical team decided to
refrain from treatment and our member died peacefully in her sleep a couple
of days later without ever regaining consciousness - just as she would
have wished.
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