Make sure your living will does what you want.

A living will is a document that advises others as to what measures, if any, you want taken to keep you alive when you are not otherwise able to communicate your wishes. It is meant to ensure that your wishes, not those of relatives or the state, are followed. It should minimize the amount of pain and difficulty for family members in the event you become incapacitated. In short, it’s a great way of taking care of people when you are physically not capable of telling them what you want. All 50 states recognize living wills in one form or another. However, less than 30% of adults in the United States have executed a living will.

The subject of Living Wills is made more complicated by the fact that each state has different laws governing end-of-life medical care documents and how they should be executed. They even have different definitions of what a “terminal condition” is. Some states provide statutory definitions. Other states require a doctor to certify that a patient’s condition is terminal before the living will can become effective. However, there can be problems if more than one doctor is consulted and they disagree on this very important issue.

As an example of the difficulties involved, in 2016, Pennsylvania facilities reported 29 cases where patients were resuscitated against their wishes. In 2 cases, people were NOT resuscitated despite their wishes. Additionally, surveys have indicated that many health care professionals misunderstood living will provisions.

Things get even more complicated when pregnancy is involved. Some states require a doctor to ignore a living will when the patient is pregnant. Obviously, you and your attorney need to know what the laws are in your state relative to pregnancy and living wills if that is an issue for you.

Hopefully you see that just filling out a form on the internet does not guarantee your wishes will be followed. All of the above information illustrates how crucial it is to consult a competent attorney when considering executing a living will to make sure that it is drafted correctly and in accordance with the applicable state laws.