Oral Living Will?

On Sunday (September 18, 2005), a woman died who rescuers at a New Orleans hospital elected not to evacuate because the seriousness of her condition made it problematic that she would survive the rescue. Due to the efforts of her family and doctor, she was later evacuated.  Because of days without medicine and exposure to the polluted flood waters, she developed a serious infection.

Her mother directed that her life support equipment be removed. The hospital staff complied thereby triggering her death. The basis of the removal was an alleged oral statement, that is, “Don’t leave me on the machine.”

See Robert Davis, Rescued ICU Patient Dies in Dallas Hospital, USA Today, Sept. 19, 2005, at 2A.

As far as I can tell, this situation has not engendered controversy, unlike other cases where life support is retained despite evidence that the patient indicated that he or she did not want to be kept alive by machines.