Thanks, Jpan - this was very interesting!

Peggy  <*]]><


----- Original Message -----
From: "Joan E. Snyder" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 3:47 PM
Subject: End of Life Survey Results


> I would like to thank all of those who took the time to respond to my
> informal "end-of-life" survey. I received 39 replies and I thought that
> the results and the comments were quite telling in their honesty and
> grasp of the issues. Here are the questions and how you answered them:
>
>
>
> 1)  Do you have a living will?
>
>       Yes:  17     No: 14
>
>     Done but not validated: 2
>
>     No, but family knows of their wishes: 5
>
>
>
>     Comments: "I have both a living (an advance directive) and a durable
> power of medical attorney. They  are different and the difference is
> worth understanding-an advance directive spells out your wishes in
> whatever detail you chose; you must convey this document to providers
> (many hospitals now require them) and then hope they will be followed; a
> durable power of attorney designates someone you trust who knows your
> wishes to act with legal authority in your stead."
>
>                 "No, but the reason that I don't is probably as much
> denial as it is procrastination."
>
>
>
> 2)  On a scale of 1-10 (10 being very important), how important do you
> consider having a living will to be?
>
>         All 39 people responding said that it was 8-10 in importance
>
>
> 3) When do you consider to be the natural end of life?
>
>
>
>       Comments: "When cognitive activity ends"
>
>                       "Brain dead"
>
>                  "When I can no longer think, feel or sustain myself or
> be an
>
>                    asset to those whom I love."
>
>           "When one permanently loses the capacity to experience joy"
>
>           "When there is no reasonable or foreseeable recovery."
>
>           "There are worse things than death"
>
>
>
> 4)  Would you like to be kept alive by artificial means?
>
>        A resounding NO from 37     For a short time to make sure 2
>
>
>
> 5)  What is the government's role in this issue?
>
>       Comments: "Government's role is tricky. I would like to think that
> my reasoning is consistent and unbiased but of course, it is not. I am
> glad when the authorities step in and provide medical treatment for a
> dying child who's parents' religion does not permit it; yet this same
> governmental intrusion makes me uneasy."
>
>                       "Absolutely none. Rather than being starved to
> death, however, I would prefer a painless lethal injection-a courtesy
> accorded to murders sentenced to death but currently not available to
> the terminally ill or the brain dead."
>
>                      "The only possible valid role for the government is
> to act to protect the wishes of the patient. (I think that Jeb Bush is
> practicing a cynical, inappropriate game of politics.)"
>
>                    "Afford me and my closest family members the final
> courtesy: to decide in private. Thanks but no thanks, Uncle Sam."
>
>
>
> 6)  On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being very religious/spiritual), how
> religious/spiritual do you consider yourself to be?
>
>            Comments:  "I am very spiritual but not religious."   -5
>
>                        "I am unable to answer this question."   -4
>
>                        "I don't know."   -5
>
>                        "25"   -1
>
>                        "10"  - 7
>
>                        "5"    -6
>
>                        "1"    -3
>
>                        "0"    -2
>
>                    "other"  -3
>
> --
> Joan E. Blessington Snyder       51/13
> http://www.pwnkle.com/jes/jes_web/index.htm
> <[log in to unmask]>
> "Hang tough...........no way through it but to do it."
> Chris-in-the-Morning   (Northern Exposure)
>
>
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