What exactly is a living will and who should get one?

Question

Where can you obtain a living will and is it a piece of legal documentation?

Answer 1

A living will is basically a statement by you that describes your wishes in the event you become incapacitated.

Like if you were deemed brain dead... would you wish to stay on life support or be unplugged...

Answer 2

A Living Will gives you a voice in decisions about your medical care when you are unconscious or too ill to communicate. As long as you are able to express your own decisions, your Living Will will not be used and you can accept or refuse any medical treatment. But if you become seriously ill, you may lose the ability to participate in decisions about your own treatment.

The Living Will form includes two sections. The first section is the Health Care Surrogate section which allows you to designate one or more persons, such as a family member or close friend, to make health care decisions for you if you lose the ability to decide for yourself. The second section is the Living Will section in which you may make your wishes known regarding life-prolonging treatment so your Health Care Surrogate or Doctor will know what you want them to do. You can also decide whether to donate any of your organs in the event of your death.

When choosing a surrogate, remember that the person you name will have the power to make important treatment decisions, even if other people close to you might urge a different decision. Choose the person best qualified to be your health care surrogate. Also, consider picking a back-up person, in case your first choice isn’t available when needed. Be sure to tell the person that you have named them a surrogate and make sure that the person understands what’s most important to you. Your wishes should be laid out specifically in the Living Will.

If you decide to make a Living Will, be sure to talk about it with your family and your doctor. The conversation is just as important as the document.

A copy of any Living Will should be put in your medical records. Each time you are admitted for an overnight stay in a hospital or nursing home, you will be asked whether you have a Living Will. You are responsible for telling your hospital or nursing home that you have a Living Will.

You are not required to make a Living Will to receive healthcare or for any other reason. The decision to make a Living Will must be your own personal decision and should only be made after serious consideration.

If you go to your attorney general's website you should find some forms giving you the information for your state. You don't need an attorney.

Answer 3

Everyone should have a living will, but especially if you are going to have surgery.

A living will defines what you (or whoever) specifically want to have done in case you are ever incapacitated and can't decide for yourself. For instance, if you are assumed to be brain dead, perhaps you want to be given fluids and kept hydrated, but don't want to be given CPR if your heart stops...that sort of thing.

You can download living wills off the internet, but you can also get a living will at any hospital and should keep one on file wherever you are most likely to be taken in case of illness or injury. But you should also have a copy kept at home too.

But here is a key point: Even if you have a living will, you need to make sure your family knows your wishes as well. That way you don't have a Terri Schiavo situation where one side battles against the other in making decisions for you.

Answer 4

You can get them from the social services department of any hospital. They're also called "advance directives," and they are legal documents which dictate what you want to happen to you, in case you become mentally incapacitated and unable to make your own medical decisions. For example, you can state that you don't want a feeding tube, or you don't want to be on a ventilator for more than a specific period of time, etc. etc. They are legally binding.

Another option is to designate a medical power of attorney - a person who will make those decisions for you. Because you can't foresee every possible event, a medical power of attorney is a very good thing to have.

Everybody should have a living will or medical power of attorney, in case they get in an accident or unforeseen circumstances.

Answer 5

To add to Chris M. If you do not want to be kept on life support a living will is the legal way of making your wishes known. In the event of a tragic accident, for example, where you would be declared brain dead your family would have to prove in the courts that your wish was not to be maintained in a vegetative state; that could take years and cost a fortune in legal expense even though you might have expressed on numerous occassions that you would not want to be kept alive in that situation (like Terry Schiavolo - I'm not sure I spelled the name right - in Florida). A living will puts an end to all of that.

Answer 6

A living will is also sometimes known as an advanced medical directive. It sets forth your intentions, should you become permanently disabled, go into a coma, or go on life support.

The living will can set terms relating to how much (if any) life support you want to received, what kinds of support, and who should make medical decisions for you if you are incapacitated.

Each state has its own specific rules for how to properly draft one of these documents. Several self-help sites are also available which provide general legal information if you want to do it yourself.

Answer 7

I living will is the expression, in legal form, that you do not wish to be kept alive by artificial means. So, basically, if you have surgery, and it goes bad, you don't want to be kept alive as a vegetable.

Answer 8

a living will is a will that states that if you became incompasitated, such as paralized and on a meart moniter and iron lung, then you wish for such and such to happen.

Basicly its a way for you to say if im on life support i cose to stay or i want you to off me.

All people should get a living will

Answer 9

a living will is just like a regular will but te person in question is still physically alive but brain dead and the states is what is to be with them and such.....everyone should have one

Answer 10

obtain it from your (a) lawyer. it tells people what to do if you become braindead in an accident of sorts. get one anytime.