The
Most Important Questions from
When
Is a Person?
This book
contains about 200 questions
which can be asked by proxies
and/or family members
to discuss the level of personhood remaining
in a individual who might have become a former person.
They are divided into the four
basic criteria of personhood.
And in the printed text, these
questions appear in bold face,
where they introduce a few
other related questions.
(The original
numbers of the questions are preserved here.)
QUESTIONS FOR PROXIES
ABOUT
CONSCIOUSNESS AND SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
1. Has _____’s thinking become rigid and inflexible?
19. How well is _____ oriented in time?
27. Is _____’s personality continuous and consistent?
35. Has _____’s distinctive personality disappeared?
QUESTIONS FOR PROXIES ABOUT
MEMORY
1. Does _____ remember himself/herself and other people?
QUESTIONS FOR PROXIES ABOUT
LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION
1. Has _____’s language ability deteriorated significantly
from the time when he/she was a
full person?
23. Has _____ lost his/her capacity for personal relationships?
QUESTIONS FOR PROXIES ABOUT
AUTONOMY
1. Has _____ begun to lose the mental powers that formerly
enabled him/her to make plans and carry them out?
8. Is _____ still able to handle his/her practical affairs?
20. Does _____ seem interested in growing and changing?
26. Is _____ well grounded in the real world?
31. Does _____ have a realistic grasp of time?
53. Does _____ have the capacity to make medical decisions?
65. Has _____ shown some lapses in his/her reasoning power?
82. How well does _____ process information
and reach rational conclusions?
93. Does _____ have a stable and consistent personality?
107. Does _____ have problems of self-control?
Created
11-7-2008; Revised