The living will is often called the will to live and is an advance healthcare directive, or a Directive to Physicians. This document sets out your wishes related to the kind of medical treatment which, should be extended or withheld if you lose your ability to communicate those wishes. In other words, a living will is a health care advance directive which is treated as a legal document, and is usually witnessed or notarized. These documents are usually of standard format and state that, you (principal) are appointing an individual (maybe your doctor) to take your health decisions if you are unable to do so (also called as ‘power of attorney for health care’), or you can lay down in words, specific directives as to the course of treatment which needs to be rendered by the caregivers, or, in particular. It may also mention the kind of treatment, which is forbidden if the principal is incapable of making it. This directive tends to emphasize the wish to live as long as possible and attempts to prevent difficult situations in case of serious conditions.
It pays to plan your future. Most of your planning is limited to your finances. Not many plan about their health or survival. If you develop a serious illness, which could be fatal, you may not want any extreme measures to be taken to prolong your suffering. You also desire that you do not experience a loss of dignity while dying. Let’s cite an example. Say you meet with a terrible accident which leaves you incapacitated. The machines and tubes are your only chance of survival. Maybe you had instructed your wife or child or parent to ensure that no extreme measure should be taken to keep you alive. Your family member tells the doctor this, but, another member of your family or your friend can’t bear the thought of losing you and requests the doctor to keep you alive by using whatever means, necessary. Now, this is the problem!
The fact that your family members love you and want what’s best for you becomes a cause for disagreement and leads to great emotional stress for all the people related to you. Also, you are being kept alive against your wishes while this matter is being settled. The treatment is draining your finances, and hospital bills are piling up. However, if you had taken the time to get a living will, none of this would have happened!
On the other hand, perhaps your family member decides to give you a death of dignity and asks the doctors to pull the plug, not knowing what you wished for. Because no one knows what you wanted, you die. If you had got a living will made, you would have been alive today.
These two examples are very simple and straight. However, we hope that you understand the point we are trying to make. So, whether you are single, married, young, or old, a living will is an easy and inexpensive way to insure that your wishes are carried out in the event that something unpleasant happens.
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Tags: accidental death, legal document, living will, planning your future
