Web site planned for health care directives

OLYMPIA – The state Department of Health will set up a secure, Web-based registry of living wills and other health care directives under a bill Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law Friday.

Under the measure, legal documents spelling out Washingtonians’ wishes for end-of-life medical care could be directly entered into the online registry, where they could be accessed or rescinded at any time.

The health agency also will post living wills, medical power of attorney orders and other such health directives to the site on behalf of Washingtonians who send their documents to the state.

Doctors and other medical workers will be able to consult the registry to help them make decisions about how to care for gravely ill patients.

Supporters believe the measure will help ensure that lifesaving medical efforts aren’t mistakenly performed for a patient who does not want such assistance.

“Preventing unwanted life-sustaining treatment is one of the key steps to ensuring a humane death,” said Robb Miller, director of Compassion and Choices of Washington, an advocacy group focused on terminal illnesses.

The bill’s primary sponsor, Rep Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, said he was inspired to launch the online registry after the contentious national debate over Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who died last year after her feeding tube was removed following 15 years of hospitalization in a persistent vegetative state.

Schiavo’s husband and her parents waged court battles over the decision to remove her feeding tube, in part because Schiavo’s wishes were not well documented.

“I just said, ‘There’s got to be a better way,’ ” Moeller said Friday.

In addition to encouraging Washingtonians to discuss their wishes with loved ones, Moeller said, the Web-based system will help physicians and other health workers learn about a patient’s wishes more easily.