Living Wills Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a Living Will?

Yes.  Everyone should have a Living Will.  As noone can be 100% certain that they will never be incapacitated and unable to communicate their desires, everyone should take the precaution of having a living will.

What is a Living Will?

A Living Will is a document that allows you to express your desires when you are incapacitated and unable to communicate them yourself. A Living Will indicates a person’s preferences and decisions regarding medical care and other major decisions in advance of a serious illness or injury. It authorizes the people you know and trust to carry out your own decisions when you cannot. You are still alive when this document is used. A Living Will generally has several components. You can include all or only some in your Living Will. In a Living Will you can appoint a Healthcare Agent to make healthcare decisions for you, appoint a Power of Attorney, provide instructions for the removal of life support systems, designate a conservator for future incapacity and make a statement regarding organ donation.

I do not want to spend my last days alive hooked up to life support living like a vegetable.  Can I prevent this?

Yes.   This is one of the primary reasons people enact living wills.  As a part of your living will you can express this desire to not remain on life support in this situation.  You may not instruct your physicians to terminate your life in this circumstance.  You can ask that extra ordinary measures to keep you alive not be taken and that you be allowed to pass naturally.  This essentially means that you can instruct your physicians to terminate life support if they deem you to be in a persistent vegetative state with little or no hope of recovery.  This does not exclude the administration of pain medications or other prescriptions to keep you comfortable.  It does mean that you would be disconnected from a ventilator and artificial feeding and hydration would be ceased.

What is a Healthcare  Agent?

A Healthcare Agent is someone you designate to communicate your wishes and desires concerning medical treatment and care to your treating physicians in the event that you are unable to communicate them yourself.  This is also the person charged with relaying your instructions regarding the termination of life support to your treating physicians.

What is a Power of Attorney?

A Power of Attorney is a document that authorizes someone to act on your behalf as if they were you.  This allows someone to sign documents on your behalf and to conduct your affairs in the event that you are unable to.  However, this document is valid from the time it is signed and is not conditioned on your incapacity.  You should be careful to only select someone you fully trust.  The way to revoke a Power of Attorney is to actually destroy the document and all its copies.  You should also advise anyone who has previously relied on a Power of Attorney in writing that you have revoked it.  A Power of Attorney can be for a specific purpose or purposes or for any purpose.  It can also be time limited and become null and void after a set date.

What is a Conservator?

A Conservator is very similar to a Power of Attorney.  However, a conservator must be approved and appointed by a Probate Court.  The Conservator is also overseen by this Court and must file periodic reports and accountings with the court.  A Power of Attorney is generally utilized for short term episodes of incapacity.  Conservators are generally appointed if it is expected that you will have a long period of incapacity.