MAKING HEALTH CARE DECISIONS IN ADVANCE An Exploration of "The Living Will" and "Durable Power of Attorney"

• Published in: The Catholic world (1989) Vol. 235; no. 1409; p. 206
• Main Author: Connors, Russell B
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mahwah Paulist Press 01.09.1992
• ISSN: 1042-3494

Modern medicine can move us not only to wonder, but also to worry. From organ transplantation to cardiac by-pass surgery, one is easily awed by medicine's life-prolonging miracles. At the same time, however, increasing numbers of people worry about having their life prolonged in ways they would judge to be more burdensome than beneficial-- tethered to tubes and machines, perhaps unconscious for weeks, months, or even years in some "grey zone" between life and death.