God is the Author and Giver of life, and it is not our place to
usurp that authority from God. Therefore,
Any person or document that brings to the discussion the term "quality of life" or any words legally equivalent to or substantially the same as that phrase, except as in this paragraph to reject the use of such terms, is thereby disqualified from participating in my health care determination. Any person who, like Michael Schiavo, expects substantial pecuniary gain from the outcome they advocate, or has any other evident conflict of interest, is thereby disqualified. Any person who, again like Michael Schiavo, is in flagrant violation of God's Law with respect to their relationship to me, is also thereby disqualified from participating in my health care determination.
It is evil to coercively take from another person for the benefit of my own personal pleasure or long life. Therefore I categorically reject any medication or therapeutic procedure that is researched, developed, produced, or administered by taking another person's life not freely given with informed consent, including persons at the embryonic or fetal stage of their own development. That also excludes non-coerced involvement with any organization or company (like an insurance company, but not a tax collector) that comingles my (particularly financial) involvement with the deprivation of life.
When God acts to bring my life to an end, it is my intention and desire to go peacibly into eternity. When God makes available to me the means to continue my life here, I intend to do so. However the artificial maintenance of body processes by heroic and/or mechanical means when there is no reasonable medical opinion that future recovery of my faculties is possible, and when the body would die normally without those means, is in my opinion an interference with God's authority to bring it to an end. Mechanically delivered air, food, and hydration, although inherently undesirable as they may be, do not constitute "heroic means" if they are applied when I am able to breathe and/or swallow normally (as the respective case may be), even if I subsequently because of that application lose such ability. Long-term 24/7 nursing care when I lack the ready assets to pay for it, counts as "heroic," but reasonable daily assistance in eating and other body functions is not.
Many modern medical procedures are exceedingly costly beyond the ability of ordinary people to pay for, even after discounting for the excessive cost of insurance forced on us by greedy trial lawyers such as a recent VicePresidential candidate, and now also by the foolish government mandate known as "ObamaCare". God did not make me a millionaire, and if I die from the inability to pay for such procedures, then I die, no worse off than the people throughout all history who had no modern medical procedures available at all. However, denying food and fluid to a person for the sole purpose of ending their life, and especially when there are people willing to bear the cost and burden of providing it, is murder and unacceptable.
This document sets out general principles to follow in my health care, and not specific procedures. I am not a physician knowledgeable in medical methods and procedures, and furthermore, the technology is changing all the time. What could be considered "heroic" or excessively costly today might be reasonable and common in a few months or years. Conversely, reasonable and practical treatments today could, if the lawyers continue to drive up costs, become prohibitively expensive.
The law in the State of Missouri seemed to have reasonable defaults at the time this document was drafted; other states -- notably Oregon and now (by judicial fiat) Florida -- are much more hostile to their citizens, and it is for such cases that a document like this unfortunately becomes necessary.
Long after this document was originally composed, I learned that Government-paid medical assistance -- Medicaid in particular and possibly also Medicare -- are actually loans to the recipient, and not gifts. For the purposes of this document, loans that cannot be immediately repaid from current assets, and especially Medicaid, constitute "heroic means" and are categorically rejected.
Tom Pittman
2005 April 6
Revised 10 Jun.17, 16 Dec.26, 24 Jan 4
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The purpose of this addendum and this whole document is to categorically reject and refuse admission to any facility or institution where any paid or volunteer staff or caregivers or medical practitioners or administrators or written policy, offer or even mention the "opportunity" to actively terminate my life by any means, except to reject such an action as Murder and Evil and against the Law of God. Any person who does not accept the Law of God as binding on their own life cannot make that exception, and therefore their mention of the procedure as an agent of that facility disqualifies that entire facility from my willingness to be there, and makes it an Unsafe Place.
In particular, Oregon Statute section ORS 127 codifies (as far as I know) all of the Oregon law relating to the murder of people not found guilty of any crime. Therefore, any reference to any "Instrument" or document specified in any part of ORS 127 counts to disqualify that person and/or institution or facility from any participation in my health care in any manner at all, except to perform first aid on a life-threatening medical emergency condition, than to remove me from the premises without further delay. All references here to ORS 127 are drawn from the "2023 EDITION" accessed 2024 January 13. If and to the extent that the law has changed, then these references should be understood as referring to whatever parts continue to have substantially the same effect. The same applies to any other state with comparable laws, whether voted in by the people of that state or otherwise.
Oregon Statute ORS 127.529 specifies the approved form for "An advance directive" in Oregon. My signature on any such document or instrument is frudulent unless every page of that document or instrument has added to it the following paragraph in a distinctive and prominent font:
This document does not and cannot express my preferences for health care. The sole purpose of my signature on this document is to disqualify it, and any person named in it as "health care representative" from any involvement in my health care. The only valid document representing my health care wishes is on my website at <www.IttyBittyComputers.com/Essays/AHCD.html>, or a printed copy of it.Oregon Statute ORS 127.527 specifies the approved form for appointing health care representative. Any person named in such a document, or appointed as specified in ORS 127.635(2) or (3) is thereby disqualified from any decisions involving my health care, except to remove me immediately from the premises of any Unsafe Place, which includes any facility where such a health care representative is deemed necessary.
Any family member, caregiver, friend, or acquaintance who ever sees
me in such a facility or institution, and sees or hears or even hears rumors
of any person authorized to act in behalf of that institution making such
an "offer" except to categorically reject it, I hereby authorize that
family member, caregiver, friend, or acquaintance to immediately remove
me from that "Unsafe Place," by (non-lethal) force if necessary. I,
Tom Pittman, have written this document, and I validate both sides of it
with my own signature below. No other "Instrument" or document is
valid for determining my health care choices, except to invalidate itself
for all purposes other than to remove me from any "Unsafe Place" as defined
here.
Tom Pittman
Revised 2024 January 22