If you want to keep the burden off your family members you need to go to your doctor's office or a hospital and complete a POLST form.

This form allows you to decide your future should you ever be in a position of needing CPR/life support. You can say NO CPR, no life support, etc., and a copy of it is scanned into your medical record. They give you the original to take home and put on your refrigerator should you collapse at home. The ambulance crews have been trained to look on your refrigerator in the case of an emergency for this form.

People of legal age are allowed to complete this form.

Hope this helps.

That's really good info. Thanks.

My step father had to make this decision for my mother.
He did the right thing.

Thank You.

that's a sweet picture <<< michigan man >>>

Too much sweets give me a tummy ache.

and not enough natural sweetness


is not good for the digestion either

it is Sooo cute .....


thank you <<< M & M's >>>

Pull it.

In fact, I'm looking forward to the journey!

it's really a decision that each person should make for themselves and have it in writing so no loved one would have to decide what to do...

I lost the man I was to marry 16 months ago to brain cancer...throughout his battle with cancer there were many hard things that had to be discussed....He had made it clear to myself and his best friend what his wishes were, to not be hooked up to 'life support'...he once asked me that should it come to that for me to tell them to pull the plug - he said out of respect for him....I asked him out of respect for me, to please not put all that on me.

So we talked with someone at the hospital about it, and they gave us papers to fill out that would be kept on his file.

You can research online to find what they are, and do all to make them 'legal' (which is really just having them notarized), and make sure different people have copies.

It is not a 'fun' subject to discuss at all.... -- and many think it's easy to want to honor someone's wishes, because that's the right thing to do.

I can tell you, when you're actually put in that moment, and you know by words from your mouth, and signing your name to a piece of paper, the person you love will be forever gone, it's a verrrrrrrrry difficult thing to do.

NO person should have to make that decision alone....

so yes...please take the time to make it yourself.

thank you so much...

that must have been hard for you

to share since it has all been so recent

I told my sister don't let me live like that.. If I have no chance of recovery pull the plug and that goes for being completely paralyzed as well...

I have had to deal with this decison in many different settings and it is a great kindness to the people who have to care for you to clearly make your wishes known. For many the decision to donate can only be honored with in a very limited window of time so it is important to make your feelings very clear on that subject to.

For our family the fact that organ/tissue donation was possible was the tiny ray of light in a very dark time in our lives.

I was faced with this decision of pulling the plug when my husband had the flu and was chroniclly poisoned at work from CO2. Paramedics revived him and put him on life supports unknowingly against his wishes and he went through a series of astronomically expensive and painful procedures includeing ones that told us he was brain dead even though they were able to shock his heart into a rythem and ventilate him. It did save many of his viable tissues but in my mind it did not save his life and I was mearly letting go of a body that would never know living again. I told the staff to turn off the equipment and I am not sure who did which because there were several but without life supports he slowly and peacefully drifted away. His parents agreed as did my sons which has been some solace.

Others have taken it upon themselves to tell me I should have done many different things. Sometimes I have been patient and let them have their say and others I have made it clear that they could jump off a cliff as they did not know my husband or his God. He was a devout Christian and an ultra responsible man. I knew my husbands wishes since as a military man they are trained about wills and so forth. And knowing many people with profound health issues we had discussed it many times. Since I was told numerous times across my life it was only a matter of time I thought it would be me so yes it came as a shock that a seemingly perfectly healthy 36 year old man could vanish from life.

My guilt, if I feel any, is that I did not insist that for the first time in years that it wasn't routinely administered he did not have a flu inoculation and in his weakend state he was unaware that he was excellerateing being exposed. Normally he was outside delivering routes or taking smoke breaks in clearer air but the paramedics didn't realize it until they brought monitors in the building. I now refuse to let my family live or work anywhere that not only has smoke detectors but CO2 detectors. The number of deaths per year in this country would surprise you. They are not required in schools or school buses.

Because I have lived my entire life with acute pain I am a big believer in a person having the right to determine their own destiny. Every person has a different definition of quality of life and even though one might be willing to sacrifice their entire life being a caregiver it is my choice if I want to ask them to do it to my body. It is also my choice to say what I consider quality of life. Haveing been profoundly impaired at one point I know for myself that even living a matter of weeks in another hospital is not a choice I am going to tolerate. And I don't believe anyone else has the right to ask me to.

Because I was a single parent I felt a responsibility to keep dealing with it regardless of my own sacrifice which at times, I kid you not, was not easy; but now that they are grown and I know they are independent in the world I don't feel I have to revisit hell on earth. I will say I know there were times that is was very hard on them and luckily I found peer support if I sought it out; which I recommend.

If someone one else chooses to fight regardless of their age or condition I would support them anyway I could and have for many years. I have done hospice care repeatedly and currently volunteer extensively in a SNF.

I will say I really think people need to do some serious checking into the services that are out there and the quality of life that people who are dependent on Residential Care Facilities and Skilled Nurseing Homes and other state institutions have to deal with because it is a national shame. And even if it means you have to walk I would buy long term care insurance for your loved ones or at least yourself because there is not going to be enough beds anywhere soon and it is already very sad what is available. Room (if you can call the space of two twin beds and a curtain)a room, food, and minimal custodial care starts at $6,000 a month.

We had to think about doing that with my Grandfather. He wasn't brain dead though.

Against my Aunt's wishes, their step-mom didn't pull the plug. He recovered (not fully) and lived 5 more years.

My parents have made a living will. Because of my grandfather, they decided to allow themselves to be put on life support for a few months.

Any way you can pull the plug right now so I don't have to go through another ****ty day like today?

Winx, that is one of those unknowns. When the person fills out the POLST form they are making the decision for themselves and taking it out of their family members hands so no guilt for the family members to have to make the decision.

On the opposite side of the coin, when I worked in a hospital in Olympia a woman was dying of ovarian cancer and had told her family to let her go, no CPR, apparently had the living will and all, and she died, but they called 911, and the ambulance crew got there but no one knew where the paperwork was and there was a family member there who didn't want them to let her go so by law they had to work on her and revive her. They brought her back to life. When she got to the ER, her doctor was angry, she was upset and the rest of the family, they basically admitted her to the hospital to let her die all over again, took about 2 days that time. How awful an experience for all concerned.

You never know with medical conditions, they can go either way. But filling out the form will take it out of your children's or parents hands to make the decision to hook you to life support, etc.

I have been feeling something like that myself for the past week or two, but hopefully it will pass, and soon. Hope things get better for you quickly. Have a good week.

There should never be a policy put in place about these things. Each case should be looked at individually. Most cases will be easy to decide. The difficult cases should sway towards pro-life.