Preparing your own living will forms to save time and money will allow you to make decisions about your health care in advance if you are unable to do so later in the event of a terminal or hopeless illness or injury. A living will states your decision on whether or not to be kept on artificial life support.

Living Will Forms Have Two Main Purposes:

First, to make your wishes known to your family & doctors who are taking care of you in cases of persistent unconsciousness or a terminal illness and are mentally unable to make health care decisions on your own. a living will empowers you to direct your physician to either maintain life support sytstems or to remove all life support systems that keep you artificially alive in the event you become incapacitated.

And secondly, to designate an individual to act on your behalf in cases where you have become mentally incapacitated or are otherwise unable to communicate your decisions regarding health care matters. For this you may need a durable power of attorney(P.O.A.) which authorizes one person to act on behalf of the individual granting the durable P.O.A. to make financial and/or medical decisions on the individual’s behalf should the individual become incapacitated.

Your Rights With a Living Will

You have the right to make decisions with a living will form as to whether or not you would like to decline life support if you become incapacitated. Today, life support systems can keep an individuals body alive for years, even if the brain is no longer functioning.

Living will legal forms only become effective when you become incapacitated and are unable to make decisions on your own about your medical care.

What Will Happen if You Do Not Have a Living Will

If you become incapacitated and are unable to make decisions about your medical care, someone else must decide for you and they make a choice you would not want.

If you do not have a living will form prepared, your family is burdened with the decision and members of your family may not agree as to what action to take. The lack of decision by your family may lengthen your suffering and result in an increase in your medical bills. Preparing your own living will form will remove the decision from your family and makes the decision yours.