Physician-Assisted Death

[berkeman]

That was about 10 years ago.

Sorry, Om.

 

[OmCheeto]

I filled out an Advance Directive and did not need a physician's signature.
http://www.oregon.gov/DCBS/insurance/shiba/Documents/advance_directive_form.pdf

From the wording of your form; "Signature of Health Care Representative", it sounds like someone with some medical background had to sign the form.
That sounds like it's in line with the POLST form.
The POLST form specifically lists that they be signed by an MD, DO, PA, or NP.

PA, or Physician Assistant, is a health care professional licensed to practice medicine with physician supervision.
NP, or Nurse Practitioner, designates a Registered Nurse with advanced education and training, who practices in all specialty areas to assess, diagnose, and treat patients of all ages and with all types of health needs. ​

[ref]

It kind of sounded, in your original post, as if you could just sign a DNR form, without anyone looking at it, and having it filed.

 

[gjonesy]

Was what they did even legal?

As far as I know it was, in the event you can not make decisions for yourself you can assign that right to someone else ( power of attorney )
She took him to the hospital that night, he was able to walk in on his on power but shortly there after the infection started taking over. My guess is that before they put him on the ventilator (probably just to secure his airway) they asked him for consent and who he would want to make his decisions for him. He made her his power of attorney. He walked into the hospital on December 20th at 230 am 2009 on Dec, 21st at 7:30 pm he was dead. She didn't call anyone in his immediate family till he was in intensive care. I received word around 500pm that afternoon, got to the hospital at 600pm I was there less than 30 minutes before they called us into a conference room and broke the news that he was "most likely going to die". The only real comfort I have is a secret he'd revealed to my mother just a couple weeks before he died. He had pancreatic cancer. BUT a simple infection from a small cut on his foot that he neglected was what took him out. People don't think of diabetes as anything more than a chronic treatable disease and for the most part it is...its everything that comes with it that can kill you.

 

[Sophia]

As far as I know it was, in the event you can not make decisions for yourself you can assign that right to someone else ( power of attorney )
She took him to the hospital that night, he was able to walk in on his on power but shortly there after the infection started taking over. My guess is that before they put him on the ventilator (probably just to secure his airway) they asked him for consent and who he would want to make his decisions for him. He made her his power of attorney. He walked into the hospital on December 20th at 230 am 2009 on Dec, 21st at 7:30 pm he was dead. She didn't call anyone in his immediate family till he was in intensive care. I received word around 500pm that afternoon, got to the hospital at 600pm I was there less than 30 minutes before they called us into a conference room and broke the news that he was "most likely going to die". The only real comfort I have is a secret he'd revealed to my mother just a couple weeks before he died. He had pancreatic cancer. BUT a simple infection from a small cut on his foot that he neglected was what took him out. People don't think of diabetes as anything more than a chronic treatable disease and for the most part it is...its everything that comes with it that can kill you.

I meant if he really wasn't able to decide himself. You said he was conscious. In such cases, patients can communicate by blinking / eye movements.
However, now that you told us about the pancreatic cancer (which is one of the most aggressive types) I can understand the decision better.