He approached the hospital reception desk with his forms.
Luckily he’d been able to find them all on the hospital’s website and download copies, then fill them all in at home. He hated filling in forms, and there seemed to be so many of them!
The woman took them.
“All filled in, are we?” She began looking through the paperwork. “Medical number and health insurer, allergies, brief history…” she mumbled, as she read. “Ah! Yes. I see you’ve made out the political preferences statement.” She looked up and smiled. “Always good to know.” She looked down again. “And you’ve provided us with a list of your preferred charities; good. And any family members that currently work in the medical profession. None, I see. Yes. I’ll get you to sign here at the bottom.” She pushed the paperwork back and handed him a pen.
He took the pen. “I couldn’t help wandering about some of them”, he said, almost apologetically.
“It’s for in the event of any unexpected difficulties, when difficult decisions have to be made, that sort of thing. If the hospital’s Medical Ethics Team have to review your ongoing treatment, you see? It’s nothing to worry about, most of the time.”
She lowered her voice. “However, we are running a touch low of oxygen at the moment.”