The Living Will prevents the “Terri Schiavo” situation. Teri Schiavo was a young woman that ended up in an irreversible vegetative state. The doctors and hospitals, following their ethics and the law, kept her on life support for many years. Only after thousands of dollars in legal fees and hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs were her parents able to force the doctors to pull the plug. Unfortunately, she remained alive for years without the life support machines, requiring only a feeding tube to live. There was no dignity in this type of process, only anguish and heartache. All of this could have been avoided with a validly drawn Living Will. But what are the chances of being in this situation? Better than you think. A nurse in Indiana, after watching countless families struggle through these situations without a Living Will, got a Living Will tattooed on her stomach so she and her family would never go through that kind of ordeal. All so-called Living Wills are not the same, some may not even be enforceable. There are “do-gooder” organizations out there that are providing one page, easy to use “Living Wills” to unsuspecting people. These documents in reality are nothing more than an unenforceable statement of their wishes. These people are lulled into a false sense of security and their survivors find out that it is useless only after it becomes too late. Over the years, through research and testing, we have determined the legal basis for the enforcement of the Living Will. It is simply this: (1) while a person is conscious they have the right to reject going to the hospital and to tell the doctor who wants to plug him into a machine to “get out of this room,” (2) it follows then that a person should have the legal right to declare in a formally written legal document that they do not want life sustaining medical treatment if they are unconscious with no probability of recovery, (3) but in addition -- and this is where most Living Wills fail -- the legal document must appoint a person to act for the patient while he/she is unconscious. This appointed person is in a sense given a power of attorney, or made a guardian ad litem. This person or “surrogate” has the right to act for you and pull the plug when the standards you have set are satisfied. Only an enforceable Living Will gives you the legal protection needed to die with dignity on your own terms. The Living Will we recommend will: - Provide complete protection because it is designed to be enforceable anywhere Living Wills are recognized, in all 50 states and around the world.
- Let you appoint trusted persons, known as surrogates, who have the power to give the order to “pull the plug” when the situation you have defined comes to reality.
- Contain a clear definition of what is meant by “terminally ill with no chance of recovery,” thus enabling doctors to easily recognize when the Living Will is to become effective. This definition is easily modified to meet individual preferences.
- Authorize pain-killing drugs even when they may hasten an inevitable death, so that the end of your life can be spent in comfort, not extended in agony.
- Hold harmless all persons who act or aid in helping to “pull the plug.”
- Permit the surrogate to bring a lawsuit if necessary to enforce your right to die nobly. This adds teeth to your Living Will by creating consequences for those who do not honor your wishes or try to prevent their implementation.
- Designate that all property and insurance included in your estate will be used to provide legal protection for anyone who carries out your wish to die with dignity. If all your assets are in trust, it works with the trusts to provide the same protection.
- Provide that the surrogate may decide on an autopsy, preventing conflict and disagreement between survivors who are not aware of your wishes.
- Assure that your assets will not be used to pay the costs of unnecessary medical care that you would not want, but the doctors are required to give you, so your estate can go to your heirs and not to the medical industry.
- Allow your feelings on the issue of Euthanasia to be known and incorporated into the document so that they may be followed if it is legal in the place that you die.
Having a Living Will is very important, but it is useless if your doctors and family don’t know that you have it. That is why we also prepare a special letter to your doctors, which you sign, that outlines your intent and introduces your Living Will. You then give this letter and a copy of your Living Will to your doctors and hospitals so that it is on file in case it is needed. It is up to you to tell your family about its existence and your wishes. The Living Will is most effective when used with the other basic documents that we recommend everyone eighteen or over have, such as the Last Will and Testament, the Durable General Power of Attorney and the Medical Power of Attorney. |
