Obama Death-Care Begins Today: Some Protection for Your Loved Ones and Yourself

At the "Death with Real Dignity" conference, Allison Ledoux reminded attendees of two very important items. First:  You must have a Health Care Proxy.  You must have it on file everywhere you possibly can.  You must make it part of your annual check-up to be sure your doctor still has a copy.  You must bring a copy with you to the hospital so you can use it instead of their generic one. You can download, sign, and copy, National Right to Life Will to Live, https://www.nrlc.org/medethics/willtolive/ Or use the Health Care Proxy from the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, http://www.macatholic.org/proxy Second, never agree to anything at first.  Keep asking what the person means and then take plenty of time to think before agreeing to anything.  I am afraid you have had an experience like mine.  An associate of my mother's doctor called me the day after my mother had had a heart attack.  She danced around what seemed to be a request not to use extraordinary means.  Only later did we discover that they had put on a Do Not Resuscitate order without permission from my mother. And I would add an amazing help in making serious health care decisions.  That is Patricia Stewart's little workbook, The Healthcare Decision Guide for Catholics from http://sweetapplepress.com/healthcareguide.html Things are not good but taking the steps above for ourselves and our loved ones will help.   Anne