How are health care decisions to be made if a person becomes unable to express his or her wishes?

Most people are familiar with the Karen Ann Quinlen case, or with its results, when a patient’s right to die was first recognized by the New Jersey Supreme Court, and the Terry Ann Schiavo case in which a family’s battle over a comatose woman was played out in the Florida courts and the nation’s court of public opinion. Today, one can eliminate these issues by signing a document in advance of the need for health called an advance directive. In New Jersey a single document contains both instructions to health care providers and designation of health care representatives. In some states these documents are separate and may be called health care proxies and living wills. Although in New Jersey a patient cannot legally commit suicide or be assisted in that endeavor, he or she can refuse treatment when at an end of life stage, provided that the decision is expressed in writing. Perhaps one of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child, more than money or property, is to take the end of life decision out of the child’s hands. Having a signed advance directive will resolve possible disputed about treatment and will lets the children or other family members feel that they are honoring their parents’ last wishes.