Sunday, Apr. 24, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Avoiding a Schiavo dilemma
My heart was tremendously heavy during the Terri Schiavo incident. I know yours was too. But only to wring our hands and lament this horrible predicament for everybody would do absolutely no good! We must learn and act! So, heres a solution to assure that you and your family will never be put in that same awful situation. Its called Five Wishes. I invite you to come to Prince of Peace Sunday, May 22, to take your life and your death into your own hands, not leaving horrible and impossible decisions for your family to try to make for you, not knowing exactly what you would want. Heres what well do. Within each of our worship services, we will provide an official Five Wishes document for you to fill out and instantly eliminate 99.99 percent of the heartache and trauma of the Terri Schiavo case. What is Five Wishes? It is an easy-to-use legal document that lets you plan in advance for how you want to be cared for in case youre in a serious accident or you become seriously ill. Some people refer to it as an advance directive because when you complete Five Wishes, you give direction to your doctor and family, in advance, on how you want to be treated. Wish One lets you choose the person you want to make decisions for you when you cant make them yourself. Lawyers call it a durable power of attorney for health care. Wish Two is a living will. It lets you put in writing the kind of medical treatment you want or dont want if you become seriously ill or injured and cant communicate to anyone. Wishes Three and Four let you describe in detail how you want to be treated so that your dignity can be maintained. Wish Five gives you a chance to tell others how you want to be remembered, and express other things that might be in your heart, like love and forgiveness. In reality, everyone has different wishes and yours wont be followed unless you make them clear. For example, your dying process could be artificially prolonged even though you may have wanted a natural death. Not expressing your wishes can put your family - your children or parents or brothers and sisters - in the difficult position of guessing what kind of treatment you want, which could lead to disagreements, hurt, and even legal nightmares. The Terri Schiavo case is only one example of the negative fiasco that could possibly unfold. Completing Five Wishes gives you control over your care and peace of mind for you and your loved ones. Five Wishes was created by the nonprofit Aging With Dignity and its founder Jim Towey, with the help of doctors, nurses, lawyers and other experts in end-of-life care. Jim is an attorney who worked twelve years for Mother Teresa of Calcutta. His experience with Mother Teresa are why Five Wishes looks at the personal, emotional, and spiritual needs of a person - and not just the medical ones. Again, this is a legal document in the state of Georgia, and does not need to be notarized, only witnessed. The document belongs to you. You will take it with you when you leave and share it with your doctor and family. You can change it at any time. But you need it now! Young adults, young parents, couples, people of all ages need to do this now. We all hope we will live in perfect health to 100 and then peacefully die in our sleep. May God grant it. But this is a necessary act of love for those who will be in charge of our care when we cannot. Again, I give you my personal invitation to come May 22. No strings attached. We just want to do this for the families of our community so theres no Terri Schiavo predicament for you. |
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