How did you handle the medical directive this year

by Billzfan23 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  Billzfan23

  If you are a "fader" like me, how did you handle the medical directive this year? We have a book study overseer (I am a fader) who insisted that everyone be present together and display their own completed medical directive. Did you faders out there not even fill one out, did you fill it out and throw it away, or do you carry yours and hope you never have to use it? I don't even have my medical directive on file with my primary care and I don't carry a wallet so I got away with not having a card this year. However, I don't even want to think about the World War 3 that would start should my zealous wife and I ever go head to head about what to do should the kids need a transfusion... They are getting the blood if I have my way - (and I WILL have my way!)

  Wouldn't that be a weird way to blow the cover off of a successful fade? (A fight over transfusion rights)...
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  I have not renewed my NO BLOOD card. I still have a 3 year old card. I haven't
  decided what to do. I think I will write NOT VALID inside the card. That way,
  it's in my wallet, but not valid.

  There really is no need to blow a "cover" over this issue. If you are a fader,
  carry one or don't. Don't fill it out or invalidate it if you want to. It's only an
  issue if the circumstance comes up, then you would have to face it no matter
  what's in your wallet.
• 

  lurker

  I filled it out. But in the boxes I checked I may be willing to accept certain treatments, and that I will have to be consulted with prior to making any decisions. I figure that if I am conscious I can tell the doctors anything that I want and say that I am to be left alone .
• 

  crazyblondeb

  I might not be totally right (imagine that!), but maybe someone can tell me.

  If the bookstudy overseer is a "clergyman" technically, then MAKING everyone show their medical directive is a breach of confidentiality.

  I wonder if HIPPA goes that far, anyone know???

  Just a thought. I know all the JWs carry these cards in their wallets. But after working trauma for so long, I don't know of anyone that looks for anything beyond ID!!
• 

  sir82

  ???

  Odd question - since about 2002 or 2003 or so, the "annual update of the Medical Directive" is no more, at least not in the US. Now, there is a one-time compact DPA that folds to the same size as the old medical directive. Once filled out, it is good indefinitely (unnless you decide to change your mind, or move to another state).

  There is still an annual "reminder" Service Meeting part on the importance of filling it in, but there shouldn't be any pressure to fill in a new one every year. If anyone bugs you about it, just tell them you already filled it out & your choices still stand.

  Your book study conductor sounds like he would make a good SS officer. Did he also review the contents of each DPA and chastise the ones who didn't fill it in "correctly" (according to his conscience)?
• 

  AnnOMaly

  I employed the 'ostrich' method this year.

  And I've been a little hit-and-miss at the group studies anyway, so I guess they will assume I've made my own arrangements for signing it.
• 

  free2think

  Before my surgery, I told my neurosurgeon, my anesthetist and my pain nurse, that I was no longer a jw, but am a christian and that if the need arose I would now accept transfusions.

  free2think
• 

  Finally-Free

  I'm DA'd, so I wasn't confronted with the issue, but after my mom passed away recently I had a look at her "blood card" when we went through her purse. The one she had was several years old, and still listed me as her emergency contact. Knowing how elders make sure everyone's card is signed and witnessed, I suspect she just threw them out when she was alone. Not so much because she disagreed with the stand on blood, but probably because the elders would have objected to her having me, an apostate, as her emergency contact.

  W
• 

  blondie

  Just file a HC-POA with your healthcare provider, picking someone who will meet your requests (probably other than a JW relative). The newest one prevails over any older ones. You do not have to fill out a HC-POA every year, just if something changes on it. Just skip the meeting with all the hoopla. Be sure to pick someone to act for you that understands how upset your wife may get (you will be unconscious) with them.

  Blondie