Understanding Living Wills

If you're like many people, you fear death less than you fear the way in which you will die. You can accept your inevitable end, but you can't stand the idea of lying around in an irreversible coma for years, a constant source of stress and sadness to your family and friends, alive only because a ventilator keeps breathing for you.

You can ensure that your desires about what medical care you wish to receive or avoid are followed by writing a living will, and providing someone you trust with a durable power of attorney to execute it.

Advance directives
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, you can decide in advance what medical treatment you want to receive if you become physically or mentally unable to communicate your wishes. In addition, you enjoy certain rights as an adult patient in a hospital, skilled nursing facility or other health care setting.

Your rights as a patient
As a patient, you have a right to:

• keep your personal and medical records private,
• know what kind of medical treatment you will receive, and
• tell people ahead of time what type of treatment you want--or don't want--in case you lose the ability to speak for yourself.

You can exercise these rights by preparing an advance directive, which is a written document that tells people how to make your medical decisions when you can't make them for yourself. An advance directive can also designate someone else to make medical decisions for you. Two common forms of advance directives are a living will and a durable power of attorney for health care.

Which to choose?
How do you decide which is better for you, a living will or a durable power of attorney for health care? Well, it pretty much boils down to that fact that a living will doesn't allow you to name someone to make your medical decisions, so if this is something that you can even remotely imagine being necessary for you, take it into account.

Legalities
Be aware that laws governing advance directives differ from state to state. And laws honoring advance directives from one state to another aren't always reciprocal. So if you live in one state but must travel to other states frequently, you should probably consider confirming that your advance directive passes muster in other jurisdictions. Call your state's Office of the Attorney General or get a lawyer to do it for you.