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As a Fort Worth Chiropractor I am concerned that this budget situation in Washington State will soon be affecting us here in our state.

Washington State Budget Cuts Endanger Registry for Living Wills.

What good is your living will if your doctor can’t get to it in an emergency?

That dilemma spurred Washington in 2007 to create a free electronic registry of health-care directives, legal documents containing a person’s end-of-life wishes. In little more than a year, nearly 600 state residents have registered at the site so that physicians can quickly look up whether a patient has opted to refuse respirators, feeding tubes and other life-prolonging treatments.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed slashing the registry’s $180,000 annual budget by 80 percent. That won’t leave enough money, patient advocates fear, to keep the registry viable. In fact, registry supporters argue the proposed cuts could well cost the state more money in the long run if patients are given expensive treatments they did not want. Miller said registry sign-ups have accelerated since the passage of Initiative 1000, which legalized physicians prescribing lethal doses of drugs to people with less than six months to live.

In the five months since Washington voters approved the so-called Death with Dignity Act, the pace of enrollment in the registry rose by 18 percent compared to the previous five months. In case of accidents or a coma, patients may be unable to alert medical professionals that they do not want CPR, artificial ventilation or other treatments, Miller said. “Doctors are reluctant to make a decision that’s going to result in the death of a patient.”

People who enroll in the living-will registry carry wallet cards with an identification number that allows qualified medical professionals to look up their directives on a secure Web site. Miller said even one critically ill patient who is revived against her wishes and ends up in intensive care could rack up more needless treatment costs in a few days than the registry’s annual budget. Kate White Tudor, a lobbyist for Compassion & Choice, said $70,000 a year would enable the registry to continue accepting new registrants, although customer support would have to be cut back.

Source: Seattle Times

Kyung Song: 206-464-2423 or ksong@seattletimes.com

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