Opinion ID: 2276022
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Previously expressed desires.

Text: The explicit wishes of an incompetent patient regarding extraordinary life-prolonging treatment should be respected if expressed while competent. [11] See Cruzan, 497 U.S. at 289-90, 110 S.Ct. at 2857-58 (O'Connor, J., concurring) (noting validity of such instructions); Wendland, 110 Cal. Rptr.2d 412, 28 P.3d at 165 (construing California Probate Code § 2355 as assigning dispositive weight to incompetent's prior informally expressed wishes). Wishes expressed in a written document, i.e., a living will, provide the clearest evidence of a person's desires. Knight v. Beverly Health Care Bay Manor Health Care Ctr., 820 So.2d 92, 99 (Ala.2001) (but incompetent patient's relatives argued that she did not understand the ramifications of her living will when she executed it); In re Guardianship of Browning, 568 So.2d 4, 16 (Fla.1990) (patient's own written declaration or designation of proxy creates rebuttable presumption of patient's wishes); Bludworth, 452 So.2d at 926 (living will is persuasive evidence of incompetent patient's intent and is entitled to great weight); Conroy, 486 A.2d at 1229 (living will is one of several types of evidence of person's wishes against extraordinary life-sustaining treatment); Mark Strasser, Incompetents and the Right to Die: In Search of Consistent Meaningful Standards, 83 Ky. L.J. 733, 747 (1994-95) (It is reasonable for courts to employ a rebuttable presumption that the living will represents the competent individual's informed preferences.). However, unequivocal oral statements also carry great weight. Eichner v. Dillon, 52 N.Y.2d 363, 438 N.Y.S.2d 266, 420 N.E.2d 64, 72 (1981) (Whether someone other than the patient can authorize discontinuance of life-sustaining treatment is not presented in this case because here [the patient] made the decision for himself before he became incompetent.).