Gary Coleman’s living will called for the actor to be kept alive unless he was in an irreversible coma for at least 15 days, according to a court document.
Coleman’s ex-wife Shannon Price ordered his doctor to disconnect life support just a day after he fell into a coma last month, according to the Utah Valley Regional Medical center.
Coleman divorced Price in 2008, but they were living together in Santaquin, Utah, when he suffered a fall at home last month and died two days later of a brain hemorrhage at the Provo, Utah, hospital.
“Decisions to terminate life support for patients are not made by physicians,” a spokeswoman for the hospital said Monday. “They are made by family members or legal representatives of patients in consultation with health care providers.”
Coleman’s “advanced medical directive” signed in October 2006 named Price, 24, as his agent to make medical decisions for him.
“If I am unable to give informed consent to medical treatment, I want my agent to give or withhold such consent for me based upon any treatment choices that I have expressed while competent, whether under this Power of Attorney or otherwise,” the living will said. “If my agent cannot determine the treatment choice I would make under the particular circumstances, then my agent should make the choice based on what my agent believes to be in my best interest.”
The document, which was attached to a petition Price filed in probate court, included guidelines Coleman wanted followed.