Bomberro - 10-5-2012 at 07:53 AM
My esposa and I want to get in place an Advance Medical Directive that is valid in Mexico. We have just been through a very trying time with a very
close friend that did not have one. We know from reading posts on this board and other information sources that it needs to be in Spanish and
Notorized. My question is do we go to a Notary for this? Do they write out one wishes re life support and then notarize our signatures? Has anyone
done this like in La Paz?
Also, because of the plight of our close friend, we know most of us in Baja should have on in place. Try a 300,000 us dollar hospital bill and shipped
to the USA in a vegetative state, we do not want this to happen to us!
Hook - 10-5-2012 at 08:06 AM
We were told at the Cima hospital in Hermosillo, AZ, by the director of the hospital that it is illegal to honor directives that you be disconnected
from life support. Is that what you experienced?
woody with a view - 10-5-2012 at 08:13 AM
ah, the church rears its head again....
Russ - 10-5-2012 at 08:20 AM
I had a will made up and it include how to handle medical situations or death. I don't know how that will work for illness but I'm sure a Notary can
steer you in the right direction, or a lawyer.
bajalorena - 10-5-2012 at 09:31 AM
We had a mexican will made in Los Barriles. The notario in the Plaza del Pueblo did it for us. You would each need to do separate wills.
Bad things can happen at any time, such is the case of SB. We all need to have made provisions in advance.
Bomberro - 10-5-2012 at 12:52 PM
Thanks for the info, I will head to the plaza del Pueblo. We did get Mexican wills there about 3 years ago and see what can be done with details on a
Medical Directive. I forgot about this being a Catholic Nation, may not be able to include much about disconnecting IV's etc. At least we will have
people listed that can make sure we are not left in ICU for a month if we were to both become unable to speak for ourselves.
EnsenadaDr - 10-6-2012 at 07:28 AM
Regardless of what the legal paper says, Doctors in Mexico are totally against taking people off of life support. I came from an American health care
system where it was done in cases that people were brain dead, etc. but in Mexico, once on life support, they don't take you off. Of course, there
are only so many ventilators available, and to get on one especially in a few of the public hospitals, you have to be near death to begin with. If
you are in a private hospital, once on a machine, you literally have to die on the machine to be taken off. I asked a surgeon why and they told me
that is just how it is. It could be a religious or cultural thing, but that is the mentality in Mexican healthcare.
[Edited on 10-6-2012 by EnsenadaDr]