According to information in most states, tells doctors what kind of long-term medical care you want or don't want if you can't say what you want The directive makes a deal with the doctor who is taking care of the patient. Once the doctor gets a properly signed and witnessed directive, he or she has to follow its instructions or make sure you get care from another doctor who will.
"Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes," says an old proverb. Whether you like it or not, someday you will die. Whether or not you have a living will affect how you die and how it affects the people you leave behind.
Say you think that if you get a disease that will kill you, you don't want anyone to do anything extreme to make your pain last longer, cause you more pain, or take away your dignity while you're dying. Say you have a very bad stroke and end up in a coma. The doctors tell you that you are brain dead or that you are not responding at all. A bunch of machines and tubes are keeping you alive. Now, let's say you had already told someone, like your spouse, one of your children, or a parent, that you did not want to be kept alive by extreme measures. That person tells the doctor that you wouldn't want to be kept alive by a machine. However, another family member, who can't stand the thought of you dying, tells the doctor that you wanted to be kept alive by any means possible. There's a problem now. Don't forget the seven-year court case about Terri Schiavo.
Both family members love you and want to do what's best for you, but they don't agree. They end up causing a lot of emotional pain to each other and to other people who care about you, as well as keeping you alive against your will while the dispute is settled and racking up a lot of medical and legal bills that have to be paid by someone. If you had taken the time to make a living will, none of this would have happened.
On the other hand, let's say you want to get any and all medical care that is available, no matter what. Since you can't speak for yourself, your spouse, or a loved one who wants you to die with dignity and doesn't know what your wishes are tells the doctor to turn off the machines and let you die. No one else knows what you wanted, so the machines turn off and you die. If you had taken the time to make a living will, they would have tried to keep you alive.
The examples I've given so far are very black and white, but most situations are more complicated than that. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.
Note: I'm neither a lawyer nor a doctor, so nothing I've said here should be taken as legal or medical advice. This article is just my opinion, based on things I've learned in both my personal life and my job as a private investigator who looks into family disputes. Before doing anything that involves the law, you should always talk to a lawyer first.
A living will is a cheap way to make sure that your wishes are carried out if something bad happens to you, whether you are married, single, young, old, healthy, or sick. It could also keep your loved ones from having to deal with the stress of having to make such a big decision for you.
