To whom should the duty and responsibility fall when a patient is suddenly rendered incapacitated and incapable of making her own medical decisions, yet has no living will? If married, should the decision automatically fall to the spouse? Under what conditions would it not be rational for the spouse to become the decision maker? If the ultimate decision were to fall to either the court or the medical provider, whom should society choose?

Please propose, in this your final discussion, possible measures that could be taken to both educate the public about the need for such planning and, also, those concrete measures that could be taken by lawmakers to implement better legal preparation for end of life and incapacity issues.