Oregon's Living Will Act
A living will is a legal document that expresses an individual's health care preferences that apply to the final stage of life, should that person be unable to articulate them. In Oregon, the living will is called an advance directive and is governed by specific stipulations designed to protect the individual's right to make health care decisions and the physician's ability to legally comply with those decisions.
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History
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In the 1990s, the U.S. Supreme Court established the right of the individual to refuse medical treatment, an action resulting in part from the Nancy Cruzan case, in which the Court had affirmed the right of the family to remove her life-support system, allowing her to die. In her opinion regarding the case, Justice O'Connor asserted that states should enact legislation to "protect the patient's liberty interest in refusing medical treatment." Many states, including Oregon, established such legislation in the following years.
Basics
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Chapter 27 of the Oregon state statutes outlines the terms of a legally binding advance directive. The law does not require that Oregonians complete an advance directive; it is an entirely voluntary process. You are entitled to set a time limit on the document's validity and to revise or revoke your advance directive at will. If you are able to voice your wishes, your advance directive will not supersede them, and physicians may only use your advance directive in critical situations when you cannot speak for yourself. You are also entitled to appoint a health care representative --- who must agree by signature on the form --- to advocate for you when you are incapacitated.
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Details
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Within the official advance directive registration form for Oregon, you can insert limitations on the actions of your appointed health care representative to ensure that he adequately represents your concerns. You can also approve or reject possible life-saving medical procedures such as the insertion of a feeding tube or connection to life support machines. You must sign the document to validate it, and two witnesses must add their signatures. One of the witnesses must be unrelated to you, not a prospective heir to your estate, and not an employee of the health care facility in which your are receiving care.
Oregon Death with Dignity Act
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In October of 2007, Oregon voters approved the "Death with Dignity Act," legislation that, although not technically an advance directive, supports your right to choose the manner of your death in terminal circumstances. The Act gives terminally ill Oregon residents the legal right to end their own lives and physicians the legal right to specifically prescribe medications for that purpose. As of January 2011, the only other state with similar legislation is Washington, which enacted its Death with Dignity Act in March of 2009.
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References
- Photo Credit intravenous port in hand image by Joyce Wilkes from Fotolia.com
