Question

To whom should the duty and responsibility fall when a patient is suddenly rendered incapacitated and incapable of making her own medical decisions, yet has no living will? If married, should the decision automatically fall to the spouse? Under what conditions would it not be rational for the spouse to become the decision maker? If the ultimate decision were to fall to either the court or the medical provider, whom should society choose? Please propose, in this your final discussion, possible measures that could be taken to both educate the public about the need for such planning and, also, those concrete measures that could be taken by lawmakers to implement better legal preparation for end of life and incapacity issues.

Answer 1

Solution:

In normal situation, the duty and responsibility should fall to the nearest relatives by blood, marriage, or adoption when a patient is suddenly rendered incapacitated and who can not capable of making their own medical decision. Further in case of minor, only parents are the legal decision maker of their child.

YES the responsibility to take any medical decision will automatically fall to their spouse if the patient is married and incapable of making their own decision.

In case of patient who are incapable of making their own medical decison, spouse automatically get the right to take medical decison on behalf of their husband/wife although if the nature of the presentation and consequences are temporary or permanent or if the spouse is legally separated with the patient, under both sircumstaces the patient's spouse is not the authorized person to make medical decisions for the incapacitated patient.

If the ultimate decision were to fall to either the court or the medical provider, the final decision making authority should be legally appointed persons although on the basis of the degree and life threating condition of the patient if immediate decision or some medical intervention is required, apart from the family members, and legally appointed persons, concerned medical provider has the power to make the medical decision on behalf of their patient if he/she is not capable of making their own decision.

Patients, who cannot make their decision of his own, might take legal directives in forms of written consent with respect to treatment preferences or gives a durable power of attorney for health care providers or both. Although variation in the decision making authority results in uncertainty about the role of alternate decision maker for many patients. Here in many states in the US have modified their legislation to designate the decision making authority for incapable patients. As the conflict in this issue becomes a reality in the healthcare system, sufficient education needs to be provided to the patient and their relatives to make a concrete decision of their own for a successful healthcare outcome. Further all the legal directives in this issue needs to be unitary in structure. At present there are numerous legal directives in different states of US that sometimes make nuisance to the healthcare providers and the patients which results in conflict in the decision making authority of the incapable patient that ultimately leads to health hazards. Hence both the educatory part and the legal aspect in this issue need to be verified by the authority and make possible modifications to provide the optimum treatment to the population.