Living Will

A living will is also known as an advance health care directive. It lets the state know what actions should be taken to prolong your life in the event that you are no longer able to make decisions due to illness or incapacitation. Everyone should have this document so that there is very comprehensive guidance regarding their health care. If you don’t have this, these difficult decisions will be left to your parents, spouse or adult children to make. In all fairness to them, you should make these decisions in advance.

One example that most people remember is the case of Terri Shiavo. Terri Shiavo collapsed in her home February 25, 1990 from respiratory and cardiac arrest. This resulted in extensive brain damage and a diagnosis of a persistent vegetative state. In other words, she was basically in a coma and there was no hope for her recovery. For the next 15 years she was kept on life support. For about 1/2 of that time, her parents and her husband were in a legal battle to decide if she should be removed from life support. Her husband thought she should be removed and claimed that he had discussed her wishes with her before this happened, and her parents wanted for her to stay on life support. Since Terri had no advance directive to spell out her own wishes, it was a very difficult situation. After many court battles and lawsuits, it was finally decided that she should be taken off of life support and she died on March 31, 2005.