Schiavo case prompts Kansas proposal on guardianship change

[atommom]

I think we might have to keep an eye on this....

TOPEKA — Terri Schiavo's case has prompted a response from Kansas House members, a proposal that would make it more difficult for court-appointed guardians to withhold food and water from incapacitated people in their care.

During debate Thursday, House members added the measure to a minor bill dealing with nursing homes. They expected to take final action Friday, when passage would send the proposal to the Senate.

The Kansas bill addresses situations in which a court has appointed a legal guardian for someone who is incapacitated. Guardians would be required to go to district court to obtain permission to withhold food and water, if an incapacitated person had no living wills or legal documents specifying their wishes.

Current state law says a guardian can withhold life-sustaining treatment if two doctors or medical ethics committees certify that a person's life won't be prolonged without artificial means, or that a person is in a vegetative state.

http://ljworld.com/section/legislature/story/200023

[MSgt213]

1. Doesn't surprise me that Kansas is willing to jump in with both feet.

[China_cat]

2. I don't know how anybody can look at things like

this, what's going on in FL and elsewhere...including our federal congress...and feel confident that their little 'living will' (with or without a medical power of attorney) is even worth the paper it's written on.

It doesn't matter any more what YOU want. Any objection to YOUR wishes (even written ones) mean even less than they did 2 weeks ago...and that wasn't much.

[Inland]

3. I think that change makes a lot of sense...

Now, all you need is an out of court decision by medical providers and the guardians without court supervision. That seems a little loosey goosey to me.

If the court simply makes sure that the appropriate findings by the providers and guardian are made, that seems entirely called for.

You step up to the judge, hand him the notarized paperwork, you are out in five minutes. No problem with that.

[atommom]

4. I don't have a problem with that scenario as it's written. I'm just

a little concerned that the RW elements in our legislature might try to push things a little further to make their "base" happy.

[Inland]

5. It depends if there are any conditions to the court approval

added in the legislation. Just ensuring the medical findings actually exist is fine.