Living Wills Can
Help In Hard Times
January 16, 2005
By Christopher W. Yugo
From
nwitimes.com
Estate Planning
Q: My family and my
doctor have been pushing me to sign a living will. I'm not comfortable signing a
living will at this time. Do I really need one, or is this something I can do
without?
A: Living wills are
fairly common documents included in the typical estate plan. As you know, a
living will is an advance medical directive that a person can execute regarding
the type of care they want to receive in the event they are terminally ill --
their death will occur within a short period of time and the receipt of medical
care will only prolong the dying process.
In the event a doctor
certifies all of these conditions, you have the right to refuse to receive
medical care with the exception of care that will provide comfort such as
medication used to control pain. The state of Indiana also allows you to refuse
to receive forced food and hydration.
Personally, I'm a big fan
of the advanced medical directive. The reason is simple. The advanced medical
directive makes your wishes known when decisions are being made whether or not
to allow you to pass. Let's face it folks, it's your life and these are your
decisions.
Some of you may be
thinking that the chances of needing a living will is pretty remote. I disagree
with that point of view. With the advances in medicine, I think it is likely
that each of us is going to have to face this decision for a loved one at some
point in our lives. Although medicine can do amazing things, I think each of us
should decide for ourselves whether we want it.
About two years ago, I
wrote a column about my family having to deal with this same issue. My mother
was on a ventilator and didn't leave a living will. My family had to make the
decision to remove her from her ventilator in an ICU waiting room.
Trust me when I tell you
it was the worst decision we had to make in our lives. I was nineteen, and I was
deciding whether my mother should live or die.
Here is another reason to
think about these things. Two-and-a-half years ago, my wife and I were in a
hospital waiting to go into surgery to deliver our twin sons. While the hospital
prepared my wife for the C-section, a hospital representative presented my wife
with a living will form. The employee explained the form and asked my wife if
she wanted to sign it.
Now don't get me wrong, it
was considerate of the hospital to offer this information. However, my wife had
just been through ten hours of labor in which she had threatened my life on
several occasions. I'm not sure she was in an emotional place to make a decision
like that. Fortunately we had addressed this issue in our estate plans years
before.
I guess what I'm trying to
say is I don't care what side of the fence you stand on when it comes to
receiving medical care. I only want you to think about it. And make your views
known to the people who will likely be there when a decision needs to be made.
For More Information Contact::
PartingWishes.com
Email:
support@partingwishes.com
Internet:
http://www.partingwishes.com
