The Advance Directive
Are you ever hear about an advance directive, guys? An advance directive is also known as a living will form, and it is a document that specifies your wishes if you become mentally incapacitated or unable to communicate those wishes to your health-care provider yourself. In a living will form you can specify whether or not you want specific treatment or life support.
A living will is unlike a regular legal will because most courts will recognize and respect your wishes even if it is contrary to some people’s interpretation of the current state laws. With that said, sometimes doctors will be sued for malpractice when he or she has been put into a situation where they must decide whether to treat a patient who may recover, or follow the wishes expressed in the patient’s living will form.
Your living will is your written instructions that explain your personal wishes regarding the kind of health care you will receive in case of a terminal illness, or if you can no longer communicate those decisions yourself. It is recommended that your wishes be as specific as possible. In your living will you will need to decide what kind of life sustaining procedures you feel are okay if you’re in a vegetative state.
As you may well know, there are always circumstances and events which we could never predict, especially where death is concerned. Where a family member or spouse has doubts about whether you would make the same decision now, knowing all the facts, can use that as their grounds to challenge the contents of a living will in court. If they’re explanation is compelling enough, they have a good chance of convincing most courts from the advance directive condition.
Since there is no legally specified standard for living wills, you can’t just go to the courthouse and buy a copy of one. You must seek out a living will form from a law firm, or website. Although you can find free living will forms they are usually fairly basic but are most likely good enough to provide a standard written declaration.
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