Prof. Gittler lectured today about end of life surrogate decision making. She discussed the constitutional framework of advance care planning, including the Karen Quinlan, Nancy Cruzan, and Terri Schiavo cases. Next, Prof. Gittler discussed ways to make advance care planning more effective, including using workbook resources and the level of specificity with which to draft an advance directive. Prof. Gittler then examined recent trends in advance care planning, like the effectiveness of Out of Hospital DNR Orders and Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment. Prof. Gittler discussed default surrogate provisions as well as various tests for capacity to make a health care decision. Finally, Prof. Gittler explained how a surrogate decision maker should go about making a health care decision for an incapacitated individual.
