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Read important information about the Living Will and the Durable Power of Attorney.
The living will is one of two major advance directives for controlling end-of-life decisions.
The other, and often preferable, document is the Durable Power of Attorney for Health-Care Decisions (DPAHCD). Hybrid documents combine elements of both.
The living will is a signed and witnessed document that provides a list of things the doctor can and cannot do if your loved one is in a terminal condition. Such a document gives authority about medical decisions to the patient while he is lucid. However, a living will can be of benefit only when a person is terminal (which usually means having six months or less to live). Some find the definition troubling because the word terminal and the phrase “unable to make medical decisions” are vague and can be broadly interpreted. It is not always easy to tell if a loved one is in a terminal condition or lucid.
Furthermore, some worry that in their absence, the attending physician on duty could make a decision that they, their loved one or their primary doctor would not agree with.
The DPAHCD is a document that designates an agent in any crisis, not just terminal illness, who will make health-care decisions when the patient is unable to do so. The agent will have authority to make decisions about providing, withholding or withdrawing medical treatment from the patient if the patient is unable to make these decisions himself. This document holds significant authority. Only a court can take away the powers of the agent if it finds the agent has abused his authority.
The International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide urges everyone to have some form of advance directive: “Unless a person has an advance directive, many health-care providers and institutions will be forced to make critical decisions for him, or a court may appoint a guardian who is unfamiliar with the person’s values and wishes.”
The International Task Force has produced its own advance directive, the Protective Medical Decisions Document, which may be attached to the advance directive forms approved by your state legislature. It is a protective DPAHCD that prohibits assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Before an advance directive is signed, it should be discussed with the entire family so that nothing comes as a shock during a crisis.
Excerpted from The Complete Guide to Caring for Aging Loved Ones, a Focus on the Family book published by Tyndale House Publishers. Copyright © 2002, Focus on the Family. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.
