those
persons who are best able to carry forward the
patient's decisions.
And any relatives whose motives might be suspect will be excluded
from
the decision-making process by not being selected
as proxies.
Thus, the death chosen will be at
the best time and by
the best means
—selected by the patient, not by someone who might have different
values.
And if the proxies and others write their
own supportive statements,
such involvement will help to ensure wise end-of-life decisions.
These significant others will be attuned to the moods of the
patient.
And
if this patient has any suicidal tendencies,
any irrational urges to kill himself or herself will likely be noticed
by the family members who are discussing
which conditions would lead to the decision to continue living
and which conditions would lead the patient to choose death.
And if there is any danger of irrational suicide,
these close family members and friends can do their best
to discourage the patient from killing himself or herself.
An irrational suicide is harmful
to the patient,
even if the patient wanted to die at that moment.
And an irrational suicide will seem tragic and regrettable
to all family and friends who go on living.
This circle of people will be discussing
the ideal
pathway towards death as selected by the patient.
When they agree on the appropriate time and place for death,
they will also be acknowledging other times and places
where the death would be inappropriate
and premature.
Sometimes the close family members will be best able to uncover
death-planning that would lead to a premature death
—before
it would really be best for the patient.
When others participate in planning for death,
a wiser decision is likely to emerge: not too soon and not too
late.
The people who are closest to the patient
can help the patient select the best
date of
death.
created
January 17,
2007; revised 1-26-2008;
2-5-2010; 5-9-2010; 9-9-2010; 5-21-2011;
12-14-2011;
expanded to include statements from
others,
which used to be a separate
safeguard SG-AD-SP 1-4-2012;
1-28-2012; 2-22-2012: 3-22-2012;
8-1-2012; 8-19-2012; 11-14-2012;
5-22-2013; 6-26-2013; 7-23-2014;
5-6-2015; 1-7-2016; 11-22-2017;
10-18-2018; 6-4-2020;