Living Will - Does Your Situation Necessitate One?

There are lots of people today who are wondering if they need a living will. In the old days, a regular will and testament was the main legal document needed in estate planning. With today's medical protocol, rules and regulations, estate planning is a bit more complicated. Living wills are advisable for a number of reasons. This document is called by different names including a medical power of attorney and an advanced medical directive. This is a legal paper that gives a trusted family member or friend the right to call the shots medically if the patient becomes too physical or mentally ill to call his or her own shots. Each individual's medical directive will be unique to his or her own specifications. It can be very specific or relatively broad in its list but nonetheless gives the designated person authority to step in to make decisions. The more specific it is, the better, however. Some of the medical treatments that are often requested and covered by this legal document include:

- Medications and drugs: Pain-killers, antibiotics and many other types of medication maybe requested.

- CPR, also known as cardiopulmonary resuscitation: CPR entails resuscitating a person's heart.

- Blood transfusions: Transfusing blood may be requested.

- Surgical procedures: Emergency and non-emergency operations can be approved or declined.

- Dialysis: Dialysis is a procedure that steps in when there's been some sort of kidney failure.

- Tests and examinations: Any number of diagnostic tests and physical exams could be requested.

- Respirator: A tool to aid in breathing

Some relatively difficult subjects to broach can be covered by this document's stipulations. A person can decide in advance if he or she wants extraordinary life-prolonging measures to be taken. This may include food and water as well as pain killers. The rules and regulations regarding a person's medical care and the authority given in a living will vary from state to state. This is another reason that having a competent estate planning attorney to draw up of paperwork will be wise.

Before drawing up a medical power of attorney, the person planning his or her estate should think over the situation carefully. Family members, doctors and a lawyer should be brought into the decision making process. Even though this is a difficult subject matter, it is best to plan for it before it's ever needed. Once a person is ill and hospitalized, emotions will be running high. The form should be drawn up by a legal professional, signed, dated and witnessed by two other people who will also sign the document. The patient may change his or her mind and cancel the document at any time.

Some individuals may consider writing up their own legal document via an online website or by buying a form at the office supply store. This can be a way of saving money but may be a life altering mistake for something so important. If a person is convinced that he or she wants to be a legal DIYer, he or she should at least have an estate planning lawyer look over the living will.