The Living Will or Durable Power of Attorney In addition to having a will, you may also want to have a living will. Whereas wills have been around for thousands of years, living wills are a by-product of modern medical care. In this document, you specify what kind of medical care you want to receive if you become unable to make decisions due to terminal illness or physical or mental disability. A living will can greatly ease the burden your family bears if you become incapacitated. If you don’t express your wishes in advance, your family may be unable or unwilling to make the tough decisions for you, instead bearing significant and continuing financial and emotional burdens. The most difficult part of drafting a living will is deciding what limitations to place on the level of extreme medical care you desire. For example, you can be fairly vague and specify just that no “heroic measures” be taken to keep you alive by artificial means. In that case, it will be up to your family to decide exactly what constitutes a heroic measure (e.g., respirator, kidney dialysis, feeding tubes), and they may disagree with each other on this point. Or you might limit the living will’s applicability to situations in which your brain function is severely reduced to the extent that you have no reasonable chance of living a productive life. Although greater specificity can be helpful to your family who must make the difficult decisions, you need to be general enough to cover all possible circumstances. You wouldn’t necessarily want your living will to prevent you from benefiting from advances in medical knowledge or improved chances of survival as time goes on. The format of living wills can vary greatly, depending on your preferences, and many lawyers draft one along with your regular will at no additional charge. Most states have a particular legal form that they recognize for this purpose, but other forms are acceptable if they include the necessary elements. An example of a living will is provided in Figure 15-1. A durable power of attorney is similar to a living will but should be used in conjunction with one. In it, you designate a person to make decisions on your behalf in case you are temporarily or permanently unable to do so. You can give very explicit instructions to the designee about what you want, or you can give the designee broad powers to make decisions as he or she sees fit. Also, a durable power of attorney can be designed to cover health care decisions only (in which case it may be called a health care power of attorney), or it can be broader, enabling the holder to make both financial and legal decisions.

The Letter of Last Instruction

Although not a legal document, the letter of last instruction helps your survivors through the process of your death. You could use this document to communicate your personal wishes regarding funeral arrangements, to identify people who should be notified of your death, and to list important information, such as bank accounts and personal identification numbers, contact information for insurance companies and brokerage firms, and safe deposit box locations and numbers. Although specific bequests must be in your will to be legally binding, you can also use a letter of last instruction to give advice about how to distribute some of your minor personal property (e.g., your favorite CDs, your old football jersey, family items that have sentimental but not financial value). The letter of last instruction should be copied and distributed to several people (including your attorney) to ensure that it is found in the event of your death.

Sample living will.

To my family, my physicians, my attorney, my minister, and any person or institution responsible for my health and welfare, I make this declaration while I am of sound mind and after full reflection.

This statement is intended to apprise you of my wishes in the event that I can no longer make medical decisions on my own behalf. If I should ever become in a terminal state and there is no reasonable expectation of my recovery, I direct that I be allowed to die a natural death and that my life not be prolonged by extraordinary measures. I do, however, ask that medication be mercifully administered to me to alleviate suffering even though this may shorten my remaining life. I direct that, if a terminal diagnosis, the physicians supervising my care discontinue feeding and hydration, should the continuation of feeding and hydration be judged to result in unduly prolonging my life. I hereby authorize my family to effectuate my transfer from any hospital or other health care facility in which I may be receiving care should that facility decline or refuse to carry out the instructions in this document. I hereby release any and all hospitals, physicians, and others for myself and for my estate from any liability for complying with this instrument.
Signed__________________

Date____________________

Address ________________

Social Security Number________________________

Witness_______________

Date Copies of this request have been given to my physician and attorney.

You will do your own Durable Power of Attorney this week as well.

You need to be a member of I Am A Ruby Network! to add comments!

Join I Am A Ruby Network!

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • I never knew about a living will before until i read it in this class I always read about Wills like after a person dead and gone. I see that it is best to take advantage while you alive and make your Will out so people would know what to do and how to make you comfortable until you pass. Its strange to think that way but i know its apart of life. It's very important so the family thats left will know what actions to take. And how i would like to go..because they would be loss and hurting and not thinking straight. So to at least minimize the situation to a degree planning ahead is best. 

This reply was deleted.