May 07, 2003
Wednesday - 12:30 am

The Alaska House of Representatives approved House Bill 25 by a vote 38 to one on Tuesday. Sponsored by the Representative Bruce Weyhrauch (R-Juneau), HB 25 offers a simple, yet detailed list of requests for terminally ill patients. The list is an alternative to Alaska's current power of attorney that exists for health care services and directives for the terminally ill.

"It's a 'comprehensive simplified' alternative, and that's not an oxymoron," Weyhrauch said. "HB 25 is comprehensive because it speaks to the details and instructions that patients put in place regarding their care if they become incapacitated; however, the bill is simple because the directives speak simply to the patient's wishes."

The list of directives in HB 25 is a list nationally known as The Five Wishes, and are as follows:

My Wish for:

1. The person I want to make care decisions for me when I can't
2. The kind of medical treatment I want or don't want
3. How comfortable I want to be
4. How I want other people to treat me
5. What I want my loved ones to know.

About one million copies of Five Wishes are circulating in the nation. About 1400 different organizations, such as churches, synagogues, hospices, hospitals, doctor and law offices, and social service agencies are distributing the document.

"Five Wishes, in HB 25, is unique among all other living will and health agent forms because it looks to all of a person's needs: medical, personal, emotional and spiritual," Weyhrauch said. "Five Wishes also encourages patients to discussing their wishes with their family and physician."

HB 25 moves to the Senate.

Source of News Release:

Alaska Republicans
Web Site

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