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Wednesday, November 26, 2003Ernest Carpenter of Perrysville is seeking a court order to suspend life-sustaining efforts on his comatose, 82-year-old father, Gerald. Opposing him is Ashland attorney Josiah Mason, who was appointed Gerald Carpenter's guardian two months ago when Akron City Hospital officials could not locate family members. Mason, who has never talked to Gerald Carpenter, said he is abiding by the last known words his client made on the issue of life support: ``Don't let me die; do everything you can.'' Ernest Carpenter told the judge his father saw life support differently: ``He'd say he'd never wanted to live that way. That's not living.'' Problem is, the son hasn't exactly "been in touch" with his father's feelings: Walker contends Ernest Carpenter rarely visited his father's Mifflin home and had not talked to him since April-- two months before his dad entered the nursing home and five months before he entered Akron City Hospital. ....A store owner who talked to Gerald Carpenter daily for 17 years testified he never knew that the man he called ``Grandpa'' had a son named Ernest. He said another son, Gary, who died in 1998, visited regularly and left a phone number for him to call in case of an emergency. Ernest Carpenter explained his absence from his father, saying the two had a ``spat'' in April. He could not remember what the disagreement was about. He said he talked to his father about life support 15 years ago. The son stands to inherit $300,000 if his father dies. When the elder Mr. Carpenter entered a nursing home, he made it clear to the staff that he wanted everything done to keep him alive if he should become critically ill. That may not have been a wise decision at the age of 82, but it was his decision to make and it has to be respected. UPDATE: The courts have decided - against the patient: The judge ruled that doctors at Akron City Hospital should keep the 82-year-old man ``comfortable with no surgical procedures to prolong the dying process.'' Ashland lawyer Josiah Mason, appointed Carpenter's guardian by another judge, had wanted doctors to do all they could to keep the Ashland County man alive. Mason, who has never talked to Carpenter, was relying on a medical form the man signed when he was admitted to an Ashland nursing home in June. Carpenter told a nurse he wanted medical staffers to do all they could to prevent his death. Spicer ruled that the form is invalid because it addressed only life-saving measures to be taken in the event Carpenter suffered a heart attack -- and not the prolonged state of unconsciousness the man is currently in. The moral of the story is: Make your wills - both the conventional type and the medical type - as detailed and as clear as possible to keep avaricious relatives at bay. posted by Sydney on 11/26/2003 08:28:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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