How do you draft a living will?

Posted on: July 29th, 2022 by EOS Healthcare Marketing

A living will is a legal document and form of advance directive expressing your healthcare decisions at the end of your life. It is only used if you are unable to communicate your wishes yourself. If you don’t have a living will in place, your closest loved ones or family members must make the hard decisions concerning your end-of-life healthcare, including medical treatment, procedures, and medication. Drafting a living will does not have to be complicated. Take a moment to read through the following overview and consider getting help from My Living Wishes.

Decisions that Need to Be Part of a Living Will

Consider your decisions carefully before including them in your living will. Your end of life care is a serious matter, so take some time to think about it, talk it over with loved ones, and discuss it with your healthcare team. 

Your living will should include the following elements:

• Treatment options. If you are in a permanent coma and nearing the end of your life, what types of medical treatments do you want to receive? What types of treatments do you not want to receive? These treatments could include:
• Life-prolonging care, such as surgery, dialysis, blood transfusions, chemotherapy, and use of a respirator
• Resuscitation of your heart if your heart stops
• Intravenous feeding
• Pain medication
• Organ donations
• Medical Power of Attorney. Your medical POA or health care power of attorney is a person you choose to make your medical decisions for you if you are unable to make them yourself. You should trust this person and make sure they understand your personal wishes.
• State specific requirements living will requirements are different in different states. Learn more about your state’s requirements, download your state’s living will form, or use your state’s online living will app.
• Signatures. Once you have the form, you fill it out according to your wishes and sign it. Some states require the living will to be notarized.
• Updates. Your living will can be updated at any time. To update a living will, you need to complete a new form, and distribute the new form to the people who need it, including health care providers and your health care proxy. Its also important to make sure to get rid of all the old copies.

Notes on the storage and distribution of your living will

When your living will is complete, you will want to keep a copy for yourself, give a copy to your healthcare provider and your local hospital, and consider giving a copy of your health care documents to a loved one. Keep your living will in a safe place at your home, preferably with other end-of-life documents, such as your estate planning documents. End-of-life wishes can change over time, so be sure to revisit your living will occasionally. If you need to make updates, you can create a new living will.

My Living Wishes Makes It Easy to Create a Living Will

When you work with My Living Wishes, we guide you through the living will process step-by-step. We make sure your living will is applicable to your state’s laws. We can do all the research for you and then help you fill out the form, so it expresses your exact wishes regarding

• terminal illness,
• palliative care,
• natural death,
• persistent vegetative state,
• mechanical ventilation,
• use of a feeding tube,
• appropriate use of life-saving measures
• and organ donation.

My Living Wishes takes you through all the important considerations concerning your end-of-life healthcare step by step, so you have peace of mind. 

My Living Wishes stores your living will in our online database, and we keep it constantly updated to your most recent revision. The people who need access to your living will, such as your doctor, have easy access to the online document. You don’t need to worry about distributing a hard copy every time you make an update. More importantly, you don’t need to worry about an old version of your advance health care directive getting in front of medical professionals.

Many people like the idea of making a living will, but they don’t know how to do it. My Living Wishes is the answer. We do the work for you, so you can live your life in peace, knowing your end-of-life healthcare decisions have been expressed legally. Contact us to learn more about living wills and our services.