[WSBAPT] Fwd: Estate Planning Question

[John J. Sullivan]

No. The patient cannot utilize assisted suicide by advance directive. He or she must possess legal capacity. 

John Sullivan

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 5, 2016, at 2:06 PM, Kim Sandher <kim at raoandpierce.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello All,
> 
> I have a client that I'm drafting estate planning documents for. She wants to use the Death with Dignity Act in the event that she has dementia or Alzheimer's. It is my understanding that the Act wouldn't allow for this. 
> 
> According to the Death with Dignity Act, only a mentally competent, terminally ill patient with less than six months to live can request lethal doses of medication. Under this act, persons with dementia do not qualify for the act because they are considered mentally incompetent. 
> 
> Is there any way for someone to assign the duty of requesting life-ending medication to someone else in the event that they suffer from dementia? For example through a power of attorney or directive to physician document? 
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Kim
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2411 Fourteenth Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98144
> Phone: 206.721.8880 | Fax: 206.721.9220 | www.raoandpierce.com
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> WSBAPT mailing list
> WSBAPT at lists.wsbarppt.com
> http://mailman.fsr.com/mailman/listinfo/wsbapt
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/wsbapt/attachments/20160105/e481a9d7/attachment.html>