What a Living Will Can and Can Not Do for You

Quick, have you written your living will yet? In an unofficial ABC News/Washington Post poll performed in March 2005 amidst the Terri Schiavo maelstrom, 87% of Americans stated that they would not want to be kept alive in a permanent vegetative state. Yet, according to the Living Will Registry, only 10-20% of Americans have documented their beliefs in a Living Will. Many health care advocates would have you believe that you can safely go mountain climbing or bungee jumping once this document is set in stone. But just like wills and organ donation, the situation is much more complex. Most people are unaware that despite indicating your desire to become an organ donor on your driver's license, if your family declines, you will be buried with all your organs in place. Similarly, the belief of your physicians and family will often dictate your care far more than a living will can.

This article will hopefully clarify what a living will is and what its strengths and limitations are. The purpose of a living will is to detail the type of care you wish to have or do not wish to have should you become incapacitated and unable to communicate. With that in mind, there are four key points to consider.

1. A living will does inform your loved ones and health care providers what life-sustaining medical treatment you desire.

This is probably the most fundamental and useful aspect of the living will. The presence of a living will alerts emergency room physicians that a nursing home resident stricken with end-stage Alzheimer's disease would not want to undergo surgery under any circumstances. It also informs physicians and family not to commit a comatose terminally ill cancer patient to expensive heroic treatments.

2. A living will does not obligate your family to abide by it.