Right To Die card
The city council of Salford, Lancashire, UK printed these wallet "right-to-die" cards. They're freely available in pubs, banks, hospitals, libraries, and other public places. They're sort of like a living will combined with an organ donor card. If you don't have the mental capacity to tell doctors how far they should go to save your life, this card lets them know you've already planned ahead for just such a situation. From the BBC News:
Link (via Further: Strange Attractor & Beyond)
...Its backers say it is a practical way of implementing the Mental Capacity Act, which came into force in 2007.
The act allows adults to draw up "advance directives" stating what sort of treatment they don't want should they lose capacity. They build on the principle of "living wills" but, crucially, mean that doctors are legally bound to abide by a patient's wish to refuse life-sustaining treatment.
Carrying the card alerts anyone who finds it that the patient has made decisions about treatment, and there is a detailed statement to be found with named relatives or friends and, ideally, their GP.
the latest
latest episodes
Oh good, they're available in pubs.
Basically a DNR, then. Do Not Resuscitate.
I always carry blanks to plant in case I was rushed and sloppy.
Dear Torrance
Comments are turned off on those threads for the moment. Write to Cory direct through his email.
@ Torrance -
Most of the book threads have been closed to further commenting.
I remember seeing something a while back about an elderly woman how had the letters "DNR" tattoed over her heart. I can't think of anything more direct than that.
My GF works in the UK in medicine and she is against this. Her reason is that this has nothing to do with informed consent, quality of life or a right to die but everything to do with saving money. This card simply means that in most cases of severe trauma rather than administering a treatment that may bring you back you will simply be left to die.
I know this is incredibly unlikely, but humor me.
Let's say someone is in a doctor's waiting room, sick. They pick one of these up to read it and see what it's about. Then they keel over while holding it.
What should the doctor do?
Let's take it a step further. Someone hits someone over the head, then slips one of these into the victim's wallet while they are unconscious.
I believe you will find in real practice that these cards are not even considered until long after all initial emergency care is undertaken. I hope.
I hope you have to sign as well as carry it. I could see someone planting them as a joke on friends who don't want them . . .
Reminds me of people signing up friends (or enemies) for marketing promotions online as a practical joke.
#2, #10, #11, #12: Read the last bit of the quoted text: "Carrying the card alerts anyone who finds it that the patient has made decisions about treatment, and there is a detailed statement to be found with named relatives or friends and, ideally, their GP.
So these cards mean: "This person has a plan that has been signed and made official with a professional and/or their loved ones." This card does not say "Kill this human, get out of jail free."
Hope that clears things up.
What happens when people start slipping them in their friends pockets for laughs, and then someone dies...?
The D.N.R. tattoo on your chest is about as bad ass Goth as you can get.
City Council?!? So in the UK, the right to die is a municipal issue?
This works if ambulatory as well as hospital staff don't steal your wallet..which is more common than it is the exception.
I want the opposite card: "Use VERY extraordinary measures! I want to live even I'm nothing but a brain in a jar."
JDSpeeder1: Yes, well, you're young.
I'm holding out for the How to Die card.
#13 Phew. Because that was my first thought- pick one up at the pub, put it in your pocket for whatever reason...my kid sister would totally pin that on her wall because she collects all sorts of junk. Good to know there's more than just carrying the card required.
In all seriousness I think this is a good thing for people to have as an option.
Many people complain about overpopulation and are often pointing fingers at those of us who breed while failing to take into account that death control is a large part of the problem as well.
More people need to take the time to decide how they want the end of their life handled and be explicit with relatives.
hee hee... i've slipped a couple of these into my parents' wallets. Should speed up my inheritance a bit!
"Read the last bit of the quoted text: "Carrying the card alerts anyone who finds it that the patient has made decisions about treatment, and there is a detailed statement to be found with named relatives or friends and, ideally, their GP."
'Ideally' their gp??? So no definite requirement? BTW Who writes and then vets this 'detailed statement'? Anyone qualified or just the card-carrier? How did the card-carrier come to these decisions? After discussion with a trained professional or after watching a day-time soap?
This card is a signpost to a DNR order rather than a DNR order in itself. As a volunteer ambulance attendant, I have to be very clear what my patients' wishes are before transporting them particularly in the case of the terminally ill, or any other individual who has a higher than normal chance of needing to be resuscitated during transport.
Without a formally signed DNR order drawn up by a solicitor, professional and volunteer ambulance crews are duty-bound to attempt resuscitation.
Tom Reynolds mentioned the difficult decision over whether to resuscitate here: http://randomreality.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2005/1/25/279867.html
#22 posted by martha_macarthur : "Many people complain about overpopulation and are often pointing fingers at those of us who breed while failing to take into account that death control is a large part of the problem as well."
Agree completely. The older people with whom I am close enough to discuss this (a surprising number are eager to discuss it!) have all expressed the same wish: to die with dignity, preferably at the time and place of their choosing. All support Dr. Kevorkian.
I can't stand that some life is considered more precious than others.
A right to live card, I have made an advance decision to accept all treatment possible. Take every extraordinary measure available. Because if you don't, I would come back as a ghost to haunt you, and my lawyers will sue you ass off.
In my area (BC, Canada) this wouldn't do a damn thing. I'm currently a paramedic student, and we spent a good long time going over what constitutes as a DNR -- and a cardboard card ain't it, and for good reason.
It's great to know that that detailed statement exists (and it must be signed by your physician as well), but if I don't have it IN MY HANDS, I'm continuing with lifesaving treatment.
If your DNR is THAT IMPORTANT, carry the full document with you, not just a card. A DNR should be an educated, informed decision, not a blanket statement taken out by any 20 yr old kid who's afraid of eating out of a tube. Get a living will if you want, but a DNR? People make full recoveries from some pretty brutal illnesses & injuries all the time. That lifesaving treatment is there for a reason, not just to make you into a vegetable.