Reply to Steve -- a.k.a. Oreport's Post: Found this on the web site Euthanasia - confused because it sounds as though it is practiced in U.S. even though it is illegal. As with my mom - no fluids no food decided by a family member/doctor. This is illegal right because they failed to save their life when they knew they were starving them to death?

The most common method of euthanasia in the United States today is withholding food and fluids. In other words, the patient is starved to death. This is routinely classified as "passive euthanasia". But in other circumstances, if you locked someone in a room and kept all food away from him so that he starved to death, you could surely be prosecuted not just for kidnapping -- locking the person in the room -- but also for homicide. I sincerely doubt that a court would pay much attention to a defense based on the argument that you did not kill this person, you simply failed to save his life when he was starving.

There was no living will. My brother claimed he had power of attorney and in charge. Never saw any proof of this. The doctors asked him to find a medical directive which he found in her apartment dated 1991, no witnesses, and not notarized. That was what was used. (My brother told me later that only mom had signed the directive.)

Mom was 85 and was in the hospital for congestive heart failure and ready to go home but no one came to release her so they kept her one more night. After bringing her bath water so she could bathe herself they forgot about her and she got out of bed and slipped and broke her hip. (In the words of the nurses). The day after she "broke her hip" the nurse told me that she was sitting on the edge of the bed. She had asked to go home over and over and no one would take her home. The doctors decided to operate (pin and plate). During surgery she had a stroke, was put in ICU on a ventilator. When they removed the ventilator three days later they told us she would live in their opinion only a few hours. She breathed on her own. She lived five days longer. The doctors moved my mother from ICU to a regular room and at that point removed all tubes. No feeding no fluids. However, continued to give her morphine. The doctors then told us she should have hospice. My mom tried to talk twice to members of the family. Her speech had been effected and she could not communicate clearly so we did not know what she was saying.     

Just to add I live out of state and my brother was handling the decisions. I did not know that mom had had a stroke until I arrived 1 1/2 days later.   This was told to me about two days before mom died.

She lived in Ohio. My understanding is that the medical directive had to be notarized and/or witnessed. My brother is not too on top of the legalities of any of this.

Extremely Doubtful.