Essay On Advanced Directives

Federal Advanced Directive

Advanced directives became a national topic of discussion following the passage of the 1976 California Natural Death Act otherwise known as the Natural Death Law, Death with Dignity Acts, or Living Will Acts. California passed the law in 1976 after a 31 year old woman, Karen Ann Quinlan, slipped into a coma, was hooked up to life support equipment and her parent’s request “that the respirator be disconnected and that their daughter be allowed to die 'with grace and dignity, ' because there was no hope she would recover” (McFaden, R., 1985).

Quinlan was connected to a respirator for a year while her parents argued for her rights, the law went into effect in 1977. The law confirmed the rights of the terminally

The Act favored uniformity in advanced directives across states. Individuals with advanced directives may presume the advance directive written in their state will be valid in every other state they travel in, much like a driver’s license is valid as you travel from state to state. However, because of the disparity in states’ laws, there is the potentiality an advance directive drawn up in one state will be regarded invalid and not recognized by healthcare providers in another state. The Full Faith and Credit Clause, Article IV, Section 1, of the United States Constitution, requires each of the states honor the “public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.” The Clause should ensure an advance health care directive executed in one state, compatible to that particular state’s laws, is valid in every other state. However, the reality may be that an out-of-state advance directive is not always respected (Anderson, D., 2012). In chapter 2a, section 121 of Utah’s Advanced Health Care Directive Act, titled Reciprocity -- Application of former provisions of law, states “health care provider or health care facility may, in good faith, rely on any health care directive, power of attorney, or similar instrument executed in another state”