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1: Crit Care. 2001;5(3):115-24. Epub 2001 May 2.Click here to read Click here to read Links

'Round-table' ethical debate: is a suicide note an authoritative 'living will'?

Chalfin DB, Crippen D, Franklin C, Kelly DF, Kilcullen JK, Streat S, Truog RD, Whetstine LM.

St Francis Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia 15201, USA. crippen+@pitt.edu

Living wills are often considered by physicians who are faced with a dying patient. Although popular with the general public, they remain problems of authenticity and authority. It is difficult for the examining physician to know whether the patient understood the terms of the advance directive when they signed it, and whether they still consider it authoritative at the time that it is produced. Also, there is little consensus on what spectrum of instruments constitutes a binding advance directive in real life. Does a 'suicide note' constitute an authentic and authoritative 'living will'? Our panel of authorities considers this problem in a round-table discussion.

PMID: 11353927 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC137271