I have seen many patients that have living wills. Now a days if someone goes to hospital , they are asked if they have a Living Will. There is some misunderstanding about the Living Will. Some people do not understand the difference between the Living Will and the WILL. If someone has gone to an attorney for estate planning they would have done the WILL which is their wish as to how the estate should be divided after their death. The Living Will has nothing to do with estate, but has to do with how one should act in case they have sickness- how aggressive one should be have terminal sickness. The living will does not mean DNR which stands for Do Not Resuscitate. I had seen a letter to Editor in a medical magazine where she was complaining about the care that her mother got when she had stroke . That showed that she the Harvard professor did not understand the difference between DNR and having a living will.
The Living Will records one's desire to use machines or artificial means of keeping one alive in case of need and if one DOES NOT want them if the condition is determined to be TERMINAL. In contrast to that the DNR means one does not want to be put on any machines or Resuscitated. In case of Living will the physicians and the relatives have to decide if the condition is terminal - as the language states " in case of my condition is determined to be terminal --". This may take time to decide . Not every cancer diagnosis is TERMINAL and not in case of heart attack or stroke ,patient dies or is terminal. If one does not want to be put on any life sustaining machines or means or resuscitated ,then they should sign DNR . There is DNR form that is VALID anywhere. The hospital DNR are valid for that hospital stay and that hospital only . But the COMMUNITY DNR is valid anywhere.
One more form that everyone should have is medical surrogate - someone who is assigned by patient to make Health Care Decisions in case patient cannot make own decision. This person could be spouse , siblings or children or even unrelated person .
So in modern days one must have 2 forms Living Will and assigned Medical Surrogate..
