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Morality of Advanced Directives This paper presents an in-depth discussion about the issues involved in honoring a patient's advance directive. Ethical considerations surrounding the issue as they relate to the nursing profession are addressed. The purpose of ....

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.... the elderly. More aggressive technology approaches are used to extend the life of the elderly. On the whole the elderly, as well as others, welcome that development -- even if they fear some of its consequences. With these advances it has become possible to keep people in a vegetative state for almost unlimited periods of time. Moreover, there are situations in which neither the patient nor the family has the ability to bring such unhappy circumstances to an end. For this reason, advance directives are becoming increasingly prevalent. In a recent study, King (1996) reported that approximately 90% of the American public want ....