Oppose HB 4022, Medically Ineffective Treatment Legislation

The West Virginia Statewide Independent Living Council along with Mountain State Centers for Independent Living opposes legislation to limit the right of a patient and/or their family members to choose to have cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

The legislation, as proposed, would:

Allow an attending physician to override advance directives including:
- Living Will
- Medical power of attorney
- Durable power of attorney
- Family member directives
Give control to the doctor's:
- Subjective opinion as to when a person might otherwise die "within minutes or hours"
- Subjective opinion regarding the quality of life of the patient
- Subjective opinion that CPR will be ineffective to "a reasonable degree of medical certainty"

Proponents of the bill cite that CPR:

Causes bruising and broken bones
Results in trauma for families when viewing the body at the funeral home

It has also been implied that the decision not to provide CPR will save money.

People with disabilities are routinely encouraged to sign a DNR (do not resuscitate order) anytime they are admitted to a hospital. This demonstrates the lack of value placed on the quality of life of people with disabilities by the medical community. This legislation would allow doctors to decide whether an individual should be allowed to die, against their will, based on the doctor's valuation of quality of life.

This legislation is not good public policy. In order to effectively address the issue we suggest the following:

Educate people about the need for advance directives
Educate people about the need to regularly update advance directives:
- An individual's wishes with regard to medical treatment may change as they age and/or as their health changes
- Advance directives should be regularly updated to reflect those changes

For More Information contact:

Ann Meadows, WV Statewide Independent Living Council, 304-766-4624 (office), 304-617-1417 (cell), or ann.meadows@wvsilc.org
Brenda Goodfellow, Mountain State Centers for Independent Living, 304-525-3324, bgoodfellow@mtstcil.org
Kevin Maynus, Mountain State Centers for Independent Living in Beckley, 304-255-0157 or kmaynus@mtstcil.org

Posted: January 25, 2006