Con

Tadeusz Pacholczyk, PhD, Director of Education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, in an article accessed on Mar. 27, 2018, "Should a Catholic Have a 'Living Will'?," available at catholicnewsagency.com, stated:

“[A living will is a] rather ‘blunt instrument’ in end-of-life situations. When we sit down to draft a living will, we suppose that we can foresee, predict or somehow imagine what our particular medical situation will be like in the future, maybe 10 or 20 years down the road. This is clearly an exercise in speculation, and we might actually fare better in the stock market or in Las Vegas than in an exercise of this sort…

There is a better choice available to Christians than a living will. We can choose a surrogate, a living person, who will make health care decisions in real time on our behalf if we are rendered unable to do so. The proposed surrogate (also called a ‘health care proxy’) is someone who cares deeply about us, who loves us, and is reasonably able to make decisions in accord with our known wishes and with our best medical and spiritual interests in mind. Filling out a form to designate our health care proxy is something that each of us should do as a sensible way to prepare for difficult end-of-life situations that may arise. Preparing such a document can also prompt us to begin discussing these important topics more effectively with our families and loved ones.”

Mar. 27, 2018