Living will - access to forms and information

Living wills and advance directives

U.S. Living Will Registry - Stores advance directives and living wills and makes them available through an automated computer-facsimile system.

Full Circle Registry - Provides living wills at no cost to all who request them; stores your medical records and emergency medical information for immediate download by health care professionals worldwide.

Download an Advance Directive - Provides free US state-specific advance directive documents and instructions, from the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization.

Estate Planning Kits - Prepare a will, living will and living trust using the InfoAmerica complete estate planning kit.

Myths About Advance Medical Directives - Common myths about advance directives and the real facts, from the American Bar Association.

Voluntary Euthanasia Society (United Kingdom) - This website contains considerable information about the Society and its activities, living wills to download, fact sheets, and academic and news articles.

Health Care Decisions - Nonprofit devoted to educating the community about advance directives and importance of living wills. Offers free living will forms and advice on writing a living will.

mylastwish.com - Virtual private safety deposit box to a living will.

Will Making - Make a will, living will and power of attorney.

Living will article

A living will, also called will to live, advance health directive, or advance health care directive, is a specific type of power of attorney or health care proxy or advance directive. It is a legal instrument that usually is witnessed or notarized. These documents state:

• That the principal is appointing an individual to direct their health care decisions should the principal be unable to do so (e.g. called "power of attorney for health care"), or
• Specific directives as to the course of treatment that is to be taken by caregivers, or, in particular, in some cases forbidding treatment and sometimes also food and water, should the principal be unable to give informed consent ("individual health care instruction") due to incapacity.

As the name suggests, a "will to live" tends to emphasize the wish to live as long as possible rather than refusing treatment in the case of serious conditions.

In the Netherlands, patients and potential patients can specify the circumstances under which they would want euthanasia for themselves. They do this by providing a written euthanasia directive. This helps establish the previously expressed wish of the patient even if the patient is no longer able to communicate. However, it is only one of the factors that is taken into account.

In Switzerland, there are several organizations which take care of registering patient decrees, forms which are signed by the patients declaring that in case of permanent loss of judgement (e.g., unability to communicate or severe brain damage) all means of prolonging life shall be stopped. Family members and these organizations also keep proxies which entitle its holder to enforce such patient decrees. Establishing such decrees is relatively uncomplicated.

The Terri Schiavo case

During the weeks leading up to Easter of 2005, the case of Terri Schiavo generated much interest in living wills. Prior to the Schiavo case becoming highly visible, it was estimated that only 20 percent of Americans had a living will. Some feel that this will be the push Americans need to make their end-of-life wishes known.

A number of entities have reported an upswing in requests for forms or other information on living wills. The non-profit organization Aging with Dignity has said that they have received thousands of calls and e-mails concerning living wills. The Westfield, New Jersey-based U.S. Living Will Directory national registry reported the number of hits on their website went from about 500 to 600 per day to well over 5,000. Others, such as lawyers, hospitals, and state bar associations, have also seen an increased interest in living wills.

Many have highlighted Schiavo's case to make the point that people should make living wills regardless of age or current health status, pointing to the fact that even younger people can face terminal illness or have an accident. For example, Schiavo suffered her brain injury when she was only in her mid 20s. They also feel that expressing one's wishes verbally is not enough, and that those wishes should be formally documented. Legal experts say that the entire court battle could have been avoided if Schiavo had properly documented her wishes prior to her collapse.

Do Not Resuscitate

A DNR, or Do Not Resuscitate order, is a written order from a doctor that resuscitation should not be attempted if a person suffers cardiac or respiratory arrest. This is sometimes known as a no-code order. Such an order may be instituted on the basis of an advance directive from a person, or from someone entitled to make decisions on their behalf, such as a health-care proxy; in some jurisdictions, such orders can also be instituted on the basis of a physician's own initiative, usually when resuscitation would not alter the ultimate outcome of a disease.

This is done when a person with an inevitably fatal illness does not wish to prolong the suffering, and wishes to have a more natural death without painful or invasive medical procedures.

The DNR order came into being in the U.S. in the 1960s when defibrillation allowed the reversal of cardiac arrest, but this may prolong the life of the patient for only a short time.

In the U.S., cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) should not be performed if a valid written "DNR" order is present. In any cases of doubt, emergency medical technicians, paramedics and other medical workers will perform as if a DNR order did not exist, as is required by law.

For the DNR to be valid there may be rules such as the use of a special form and/or additional signatures of a doctor and/or witnesses, etc. The exact rules for obtaining and for emergency medical personnel accepting the validity of a DNR order vary widely according to jurisdiction. For example, in the state of Maryland, only Maryland-state DNR orders are acceptable, and they require much verification, witnesses and doctor's signatures in order to be valid. In contrast, the state of West Virginia allows patients to receive a DNR order with relative ease, and will accept them from most other jurisdictions.

A DNR order's specific effect depends on the hospital in which the death occurs: neither cardiopulmonary resuscitation nor intubation will be performed, but treatment for infections or other treatable conditions, intravenous feeding and fluids, pain management and comfort care are generally continued.

Uniform Rights of the Terminally ill Act (USA)

The Uniform Rights of the Terminally Ill Act (1985, revised 1989), has been recommended as a Uniform Act in the United States, and subsequently been passed by many states. The law allows a person to declare a living will specifying that, if the situation arises, he or she does not wish to be kept alive through life support if terminally ill and/or in a coma.

Many people make use of this act because they do not wish to endure any pain or suffering if weakened by a fatal disease. They want to "die with dignity," so that family members will not have to go through emotional pain of watching their loved one sleep through many years of life with no response to any stimuli.

This form of death is known as passive euthanasia, where death is not inflicted with drugs, but is allowed by cutting off life support.

Wikipedia selected resources:

Advance Health Care Directives: End-of-Life Choices—Make Your Wishes Known! 

End of Life Choices 

Legaldocs Living Wills - State Specific

Five Wishes 

Will to Live forms for each state 

U.S. Living Will & Advance Directive Registry 

Advance Health Directive in Queensland 

Attribition: This informational article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Living Will. We also use material from linked pages. We encourage you to support Wikipidia.

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