Terri's Watch: Did 'revoked' living will kill a Man?

Family members are investigating what they consider to be suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a nursing home patient at the center of a life and death tug-of-war reminiscent of the Terri Schiavo tragedy.

Seventy-nine-year-old Jimmy Chambers died in the early morning hours of Oct. 24 after the tracheotomy tubes that deliver oxygen from a ventilator to a hole in his neck became unhooked. Family members were told Chambers, a resident of the Anne Maria Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in North Augusta, S.C., apparently pulled the interlocking tubes apart.

The retired dispatcher for Holland Motor Express died approximately 10 hours later. His death certificate indicates he died of "natural causes."

Chambers' family was bitterly divided over whether to keep him connected to the life-sustaining ventilator or disconnect it.

Viola Chambers asserted her husband of 58 years, who signed a living will in Iowa in 1990, did not want to be kept alive by artificial means. Mrs. Chambers stated in a court petition that her husband had "attempted to remove the tracheal intubation on several occasions."

Ten other family members – including four of his five children – and his initial treating physician signed sworn statements that Chambers himself indicated he wanted to stay on the ventilator, receive rehabilitative therapy and live. They say he communicated this by nodding his head "yes" and "no" to questions put to him during a Sept. 8 family meeting witnessed by 13 people in his hospital room.

According to Iowa law, a living will "may be revoked in any manner by which the Declarant is able to communicate the Declarant's intent to revoke."

Despite Chambers' apparent responsiveness and efforts to communicate, the nursing home staff reportedly deferred to his wife regarding treatment decisions, over the objections of the children. The South Carolina Adult Health Care Consent Act gives the spouse the highest priority to make medical decisions in the absence of a designated health-care power of attorney.

WorldNetDaily.com.