About advance directives

Well, since the news of the hour is living will, advance directives etc, we were talking about how long we want to be kept alive ( artifcially ) in the event of an unfortunate accident where one is rendered totally brain dead. My husband promptly said, " Three days".
" That's too darn short" I exclaimed.
" If the brain is dead - why bother and while you are at it, cremate me in a cheap plywood box".

We laughed - even after his death, he wants to make sure we spend as little as possible. Why be cremated in an expensive box? I agree about that but at this time, I want to be buried. I am scared of fire and I know what I am saying does not make sense because we are talking about what to do with the body after death. Also, growing up christian, I am biased to a burial while my husband, is biased to being cremated as he grew up in a Hindu household.

" I want to be kept alive for - like 90 days" My bro-in-law said.
" Ninety days is too long", we all exclaimed.
" And who is going to pay for all that - it will probably come from your estate" , my husband said.
" Well, in that case, a few days only - I don't want my estate to be drained away ".

Although we are all aware that we need to decide what to do about advance directive, it is hard to settle on the time and details. Because it depends on how severe the injuries are or how good or bad is the diagnogsis of the state of the brain.If the brain is dead and one loses all motor functions - I would not want to live. But the brain is an amazing organ - if it is alive, I beleive that lack of motor skills can be revived - in some forms. I was just reading about this study where you use chips to read a man's thoughts and translate it to action. So, as the years go by, neuroscience will make it possible for a human to recover a lot of abilities. So as long as the brain is alright, the decision should be easier. I do know/ or hear of people who wake up from coma or after being on a heart lung machine for a week and they recover completely.However, in those situations, thier brains were not damaged so rehabilitation was possible. So, if an accident occurs that puts me in a coma or artificially alive, while my body lies in bed and my mind has gone whereever it goes during coma, I would lean on the side of caution and make sure that my relatives wait at least a month. Even in those circumstances, I do not want to remain in that state - longer than a month esp. if insurance refuses to pay or if it has to come from my estate. However, if there were some settlement, like in Terri's case , hey, why not use the money to wait a year at least. But certainly not fifteen years and only if the brain is deemed viable in the event you wake up from your coma.
If my brain gets severely damaged - it is bye-bye for me as soon as insurance says," No more".
And if there were some settlement money coming, I would leave that to my heirs - deserving or not.