This was taken in 1989. My daughter Randi (7-10 months old?) and Awesome Dawson. If it was in colour the peach and green scheme would have given it away. Have you ever tried to do laundry with a baby? How about with a baby and a cat? As I recall, the one in charge here was Dawson. As fast as I would try to put laundry away he would be in there messing about. And Randi was just distracting adorable eye candy!
Somebody has to take the wheel, somebody has to be in charge, somebody has to make a decision. And with that, I'm segueing into the importance of Consent!
When it comes to a health crisis and you find yourself in the stressful situation of having to determine the course of action, there are a few options.
If you have your faculties (capable) and are able to communicate, the one in charge is YOU. For example, Dr. Mustard will show up and say "Scarlett, you have a few options: surgery, a new medication trial or we can send you home with palliative support and care." YOU need to ask some important questions, get the pros and cons of your options, be informed. Bounce it off other professionals and family (Proverbs 15:22).
But, if you are out cold or mumbling away in a Delirium somebody else will be in charge for you. In Ontario everyone has an automatic Substitute Decision Maker (SDM). No paperwork required unless you want to change that.
See that green part? Those are the automatic SDMs. First off will be your spouse/partner and if you are divorced or single it would move to your Parent or children.
So if your spouse is aware of what's your version of quality of life and can keep a cool head under stressful situations and knows to get the facts on the options that's the guy/gal for you! But what if you are divorced and have a teenager at the helm? You only need to be 16 to make life altering decisions for another person. What if you are down to siblings. And there is 3 of them. And they can't agree on anything? If you are starting to freak out just calm down. When your options are dicey you can appoint your own Power of Attorney (POA) and they now trump all the automatics and will be the one in charge. You don't need a lawyer to establish a POA. You do need to sign it voluntarily, with two witnesses on hand and they also need to sign it. Info on POAs can be found here:
https:\\www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/family/pgt/poa.pdf
Consenting to a course of action in a medical emergency can be very, VERY stressful. I'd rather do laundry with a baby and a cat, but with some candid discussions and pre-planning (see my last Blog on Life's Non-Negotiables) you or your SDM can make the best informed decision possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment