Living Will and Health Care Proxy- Do You Have One?

I do have a living will, and the people I've chosen to
execute this living will in case it becomes necessary,
have a copy as well. They're not immediate family
but dear friends that happen to be physicians as well.
So I hope this will take care of my wishes, should
I ever become mentally incapacitated.

I have both a Living Will and a Health Care Proxy with durable power of attorney.

I was going to start a topic on ths tonight, Phoenix!

What are all the issues and options? I don't even know. Can someone outline what common scenarios for living will applications are? I know there are issues involving heroic measures, bringing back a person after hearts or brains stop working, life-sustaining machinery.... what else?

We've had verbal discussions in my family, and my mother has printed something up describing what we are to do when she dies..... but not before. Of us four siblings, 2 of us for each parent is responsible for making end-of-life-care decisions, but our parents haven't really told us how they wish for things to be handled.

I hope we discuss it this weekend.

So where is everybdy else? It seems to me that the Schiavo case would be a "wakeup call" for people. If I did not have a living will, I would run right out and get one.

I don't think that people realize how vulnerable that they are. If we are now living in a society where the government wants to stick their noses where they don't belong, IMO it is imperative that each person has legal protection as to his/or her wishes concerning medical decisions.

living will
we have had a LIVING WILL for about twenty years. our lawyer suggested that we have one drawn up when we updated our last will and testament. we only paid $75 for all the paperwork - well worth the money. both our lawyer and our family physician have copies of the living will. google provides plenty of additional info under "living will". hbg

Does Bethiepoo have a copy?

I made one after the first round of Schiavo discussions. Can't remember if it was here or Abuzz.

Mr. Noddy is a long term diabetic with frequent hospital stays. The admitting department is delighted to hear that he has a living will and Durable Power of Attorney.

Wow, still less than one page's worth of responses!

I don't even have a freakin' will, let alone a living one.

There littlek, now we're on page 2.

I don't even know about my parents' wills either. Nobody talks about it in my family. Well, actually, I'm sure my brother and his wife and them have talked about it, but since I'm the outsider who is always just drifting along in my life, it's just never really come up with me. I haven't ever really talked with anyone in my family about it at all.

Hmmm....

I know where it is.

Need to do my own.

Yes, I have a will.

I'm leaving everything I have to Elvis Presley. He's a good man.

littletek : i seem to recall that we discussed this subject (or similar one) last year ??? yes, ehbeth has a copy - can she find it ??? probably would be best to store on disk ... but it would not have proper signature. one idea would be to store important documents on disk and specify where the original is kept. yes, i think that would be a good idea - just needs to be done, right ?

speaking generally : i think this is a subject many people prefer not to hear about or discuss; but it's something one should do earlier rather than later. we know of a number of cases where absence of a proper will has caused all kinds of problems for the surviving partner. (perhaps it's somewhat like a flushot. people think the flu is never going to get them, so why bother ?). hbg

I think that you should do it sooner than later, too, but I also think it should be revisited every few years. As people go through life, sometimes their perpectives change.

Both my wife and I have living wills. Became aquainted with the need by the hospital just prior to undergoing major surgery in 1992.

BBB
The document entitled a "living will" is not currently recommended. Living will have become challenged or ignored in too many cases lately.

Instead, the document entitled "Advanced Directies" should be executed and witnessed.

http://www.uslivingwillregistry.com/forms.shtm

You should also execute a "Durable Power of Attorney" so that someone you trust can take charge to ensure your wishes are followed.

You can have your attorney draw up these documents---or if you don't want to give more specific special instructions, you can use the free form for your state at the link above.

Dys, Diane and I recently updated our documents for New Mexico law. If you've moved from the state in which you executed your documents, you should update them for your current state residence.

BBB

Kicky
NY and NJ living will documents available at:

http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_082112801.html

Will only take a few moments of your time and well worth the effort.