Prime time is filled with dramas that also deal with death.
With the capacity of medicine to prolong life through modern technology, people have more control over the circumstances of their death. In 1991, Congress passed the Patient Self-Determination Act as the first federal legislation to ensure that health care institutions inform patients of their rights to make decisions about medical treatment and to formulate advance directives according to their value system. Advance directives allow choices made while a person is competent to direct their medical care even when they can not do so directly. These choices must be consulted whenever possible as the basis of health care decisions. In this week's episode of ER, an elderly woman in cardiac arrest was resuscitated with electro-shock to restore her heartbeat and breathing.