This is a photo of a tattoo that Mary Wohlford, 80, has emblazoned on her chest. Wohlford, of Decorah Dyersville, Iowa, got the ink in February to hopefully eliminate the possibility of any Terri Schiavo-esque controversy about her medical wishes should she become unable to communicate them directly. From the Des Moines Register (photo by Mary Chind):
If all else fails, if family members can't find her living will or can't face the responsibility of ending life-sustaining measures, she said, then doctors will know her wishes by simply reading the tiny words that are tattooed over her sternum."I probably should have had it dated, too," she said.
As it was, the first time she entered Gary's Professional Tattooing Studio, the employee balked, saying he wasn't sure it would be ethical.
"I said, 'OK, but you get these druggies and drunks in here and you do it. Do I look lucid or not?' " she remembered.
The employee still demurred. Shop owner Gary Lietz said he, too, was reluctant, but eventually gave in. Wohlford even talked him into a senior citizen discount.
Link
UPDATE: Thanks to all the readers who sent in info on other similar tattoos and comments about whether it would be enough to convince a care provider not to resuscitate. Steve McCullough points us to an excellent 1992 article on the subject from the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago. Link
