Making advance directives meaningful.

Advance directives have been criticized as impractical and/or ineffective, but very little of the criticism differentiates among diverse types of advance directives. The thesis of this article is that carefully drawn documents can be effective. The inadequacy of the advance directive mechanism to date flows in part from documents that are too vague and uninformative.

The permanently unconscious patient, non-feeding and euthanasia.

Some sources condemn judicial decisions which authorize the withdrawal of artificial nutrition from permanently unconscious patients. These critics assert that withdrawal of nutrition from a preservable unconscious patient amounts to intentional killing of a helpless human being. Grave implications are seen for helpless patients.