Friday, April 01, 2005
Living Wills
Who Decides on End of Life Issues?
Time magazine, generally a magazine I loath, does have a good chart of who has legal authority to make end of life decisions (for now). Notice that a majority of states give the decision making to the legal spouse (one of the many acknowledgements of the bond between husband and wife), only Texas (oh the irony!) takes the decision away from the family. But, alas, legislation has already been introduced in Congress to strip states of the ability to decide disputes in this matter. As I joked last week, under the new moral clarity, marriage rights take a back seat to the culture of life. (Not to mention the endless number of politicians that capitalized on this family dispute, adding to the animosity and bitterness)
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101050404/schiavo_webguide.html
Time magazine, generally a magazine I loath, does have a good chart of who has legal authority to make end of life decisions (for now). Notice that a majority of states give the decision making to the legal spouse (one of the many acknowledgements of the bond between husband and wife), only Texas (oh the irony!) takes the decision away from the family. But, alas, legislation has already been introduced in Congress to strip states of the ability to decide disputes in this matter. As I joked last week, under the new moral clarity, marriage rights take a back seat to the culture of life. (Not to mention the endless number of politicians that capitalized on this family dispute, adding to the animosity and bitterness)
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101050404/schiavo_webguide.html
