Living Will - A Wise Choice

Plan for uncertainties

Have you ever though of a situation when you are not in a position to communicate to your physician or to your loved ones about your wish to die rather than remaining in a vegetative existence with all the feeding and hydration tubes, oxygen and life support systems waiting for the death by keeping it at bay for the simple will and pleasure of somebody else? Sounds dreadful? Isn’t it? If you are really serious to avoid such a situation in life you need to make advance directives in the form of a living will and/or health care proxy.

These terminologies were quite alien for many until recently when the facts of a most controversial law suit regarding the continuance or withdrawal of life support system for a woman who met with a car accident became a subject of debate. Mrs. Terry schiavo after a few years of married life met with a tragic car accident that made her paralyzed and fall in coma, had to undergo the traumatic experience for more than a decade being the subject matter of a law suit between her husband and parents on the above issue. Though the husband had indicated that her wife had informed him during the course of their married life, about her preference not to have a vegetative existence with support of life sustaining drugs or other devices, not even her parents were willing to accept the argument until finally the apex court made the verdict in favour of her husband.

The living will- Reasons:

The American population responded to the above controversial episode immediately by showing their anxiety in overcoming such situations by increased inclinations for drafting advance directives that includes Living will and health care proxies.

A living will is nothing but a documented legal record of your preferred treatment In case you get terminally ill or meet with an accident that makes you incapable of making decisions or communicating the same with regard to the life prolonging treatment that may be given to you as per the medical ethics even though there may not be any chance of your revival. Your children or spouse or even the physicians attending you do not have the liberty to take a decision to pull down those wires or stop administering the food or hydration without a court’s intervention. The result! You continue to live clinically against the will of you and your dear ones! You cannot blame the system or the health care providers for such a sorry state of affairs but only yourself. Today many wise people avoid similar situation by properly drawing up a living will that clearly spells out your preference and the physicians, hospitals and the loved ones are legally bound by such a document.

A few basic Facts

As a prudent person you would like to know some basic details about the living will. Let us see some of the basic facts of a living will.

A living will need to be written and signed by the person who makes it and get properly witnessed. The will becomes operative only if the person gets terminally ill, or meets with an accident that makes him or her incapacitated permanently. A living will can be changed, altered and redrafted any number of times during the life time of the person and in such cases it need to be communicated to all concerned. The living will recognizes the right of the person to deny any unwanted medical procedure like the administration of drugs or the help of feeding or hydration tubes and saves your family, Physicians and health care providers from many embarrassments