Forgo Treatment/Cease Treatment
Know your rights
You have the legal right to refuse medical treatment even if that treatment is necessary to sustain life. These life sustaining interventions can include ventilators, feeding tubes, pacemakers or medication that, if used, would prolong the client’s life. Sometimes done when a patient requests it, but also in accordance with an advance directive or based on judgments of medical futility. Medical futility is when further treatment is incapable of producing the intended result or is ineffective in producing the quality of life that the patient desires.
Every experience is different
For some conditions, a person can choose to hasten and experience a peaceful death by stopping a treatment, such as dialysis and insulin therapy (for type 1 diabetes). For other conditions, like an infection or pneumonia, not starting life-sustaining treatments is an option. Not starting treatment is sometimes the only way for a legally appointed healthcare agent to honor the wishes of a loved one who has become demented or incompetent. To prevent undue suffering, medications may be used to lessen symptoms.
Talk to your loved ones
Any decision to stop or not start treatment should be discussed with a medical professional. It is essential that palliative care be in place for pain, agitation, or sympton management prior to stopping or not stopping treatment. If the person is not in a hospital, a New Mexico Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (NM MOST) form that reflects the person’s wishes should also be available and posted in a prominent place in the home or care facility to alert EMS responders to the patient’s wishes about resuscitation, care and transportation.
