Living Wills: Preparing For End of Life

wsj.com:

Forget about the health-reform debate for the moment. Should you have a living will specifying the kind of care you'd want at the end of life if you couldn't speak for yourself?

Doctors, lawmakers and ethicists have been urging Americans to fill out advance directives, as they are called, for decades. Yet less than a third of American adults, and less than half of nursing-home patients, have done so. Many people don't understand the options or the consequences, or they are baffled by the legalities, according to a report prepared for Congress last year by Rand Corp., and doctors and patients alike are reluctant to broach the subject of death.

Read the whole story: wsj.com

Comments

[elizlucinda]

In Canada we call these a Power of Attorney for personal care. When I was practising as a lawyer, I used to encourage all my friends to have this document drawn up. It is extremely stressful on the family if a loved one becomes terminally ill and the family does not know the the loved one's wishes. It can also be very divisive to the family if there is a disagreement.

I should point out that these documents not not legally binding as such but they do give direction to a doctor regarding the wishes of a terminally ill person.

[Halsey]

Part I
Isn't our society silly about death.like­...america­n's are immune or something.­.and like "sex" we simply don't discuss it. Now..How..­without $$ for an attorney..­do I GET A SOLID Advance Directive (much less a living will...eve­n those do your own forms are a few hundred dollars)..­are only the wealthy entitled to decide? I do NOT, under ANY circumstances want ANY means used to keep me alive...we ALL die..."God­'s will" is NOT a feeding tube...or a respirator­...I will make a friend my designated "pull the plugger"..­as my family...b­orn again...wo­uld screw up my wishes....­If I go first (and..gues­s in all honesty..i­t would be too hard to ask an elder woman (my mother) to pull the plug on her daugher (I'm 54) "if" tragedy strikes (again) in my life. I'm making this two parts....

[Halsey]

Part II..

I had (maybe have)..can­cer...nast­y, aggressive­.4 surgeries.­..8 cycles of ACT AND 30 of radiation.­."if" cancer recurs soon (like in a year)..I will NOT seek treatment.­..see..I'm not one of the those "after a long battle with cancer" people..I truly gave it a good shot...(it­'s awful...tr­ust me)...and I'm doNE!..hos­pice..(In WA I'd drink the magic koolaid..m­yself!)... now..in 5 years.I may change my mind...but TODAY..thi­s is how I KNOW I want to go (if it comes back)... same with car wrecks, etc...jet let me go...I'm not afraid to die..lots of company... so so..IS there a link someone to a "stand up in court" final directive? that's free..or at least..ver­y very cheap?

thanks! (my old parents..I love them..but WHAT A MESS..no WILL...so forget a Trust...wh­at a mess it will be...to me..that's selfish..t­hey dont' have have "plots" as they do not want cremation.­..grrrr..

[SangZe]

Be careful with this. Maybe a living will is a good ideas, but I have come across a number of instances where the medical people simply bulldozed over the living will, put patients on life support despite their wishes, and ran up astronomical bills for the family. The usual claim was that the patient had not deposited a living will with the particular medical facility in advance of the often unexpected trauma, so when it was produced, it was ignored.

[CR46]

DO NOT LEAVE THIS UNTIL YOU ARE OLDER!! Sorry. Any married couple especially if they have children should have living wills. If your wishes are NOT to be maintained in a nursing home for years if something happens, the financial cost pushed unto your spouse will affect their ability to raise your child/children without you. This is just as importatnt as anything else and you can buy living will packages(do to yourself ones) for very little $$$. Any single adult should also have one and make it clear to close family members that you have one and what your wishes are. This topic is not just for seniors, it should be a concern of every adult.

[67bug]

I'm so glad my father had a living will set up before he passed over. It also kept his property out of probate.

[ailbhe]

I have always said to my family, if I ever have an accident; do not leave me in a coma for more than a month, do not allow any further medical treatment if I am brain damaged, do not keep me on life support for any length of time and that is only is acceptable if there is a good chance of full recovery.

My biggest fear is being kept artificially sustained indefinitely. The main problem that exists today is that we have the medical capacity to maintain existence without the wisdom to know when to let go.

If your head was blown off, doctors could keep your body 'alive' as long as long as the brain stem was intact but you are never going to come back!

There is such a thing as life worse than death and doctors should not be allowed to inflict it on anybody who has not previously consented.

[CR46]

Get a living will. People HAVE been kept alive artificially or should I say "maintained" for years in nursing homes against their families wishes.

[grata2ude]

This is exactly what the health care bill was trying to address. No one likes to talk about it, but everyone has to have their wishes for these kind of things in order before they happen. Get a living will drawn up.

Doctors have no choice if you don't say you don't want it, and have no directives for no resusitation Doctors have to continue your life for what its worth.