Creating a Living Will

Sometimes as we begin to get older we start to think about planning the future and preparing a life for our children or future children. There are many different things that you can do in order to ensure a bright future for your loved ones. However, one thing that you should definitely think about is a living will. This might be something that you have never considered before, although it’s probably something you will wish you had in the unfortunate case of something happening. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the concept of a living will, below is a little bit of information that will help you understand why they are so important.

The History of the Living Will

Living wills were developed around a half century ago in order to provide a solution for people that are unable to handle making their decisions for health care. The main concept is that a living will allows for a beneficiary to take control of one’s estate and make decisions on behalf of that estate and person. The main reason that living wills came into practice is because of different medical advances that took place around a half century ago. In many cases when people would have normally died, the medical researchers had found ways of keeping them alive and continuing their quality of life. However, in some cases people were left in a state that would leave them unable to restore brain activity or movement. This is when family members would be left with making decisions on behalf of their loved ones that were no longer able to.

Many times when a patient was left in a state of not being able to care for themselves or make decisions for their health care, there would be disputes between the family members of that person and the medical staff. The medical staff in many cases would feel as if it was their professional obligation to keep the person alive, however many of the families of these people didn’t feel the same way.

How Does a Living Will Work?

The way that living wills work these days is in the form of a statement that a person will give to healthcare workers in order to inform them of what type of life prolonging treatments they wish to receive if they become unable to communicate.

In order to make a living will, the only stipulations are that you are a competent adult. The will must also name a person that will act on behalf of the person that created the will if that person is unable to communicate their own wishes for medical attention. Having a third party named in the living will prevents issues with misinterpretation of a will. If there is a doctor that refuses to fulfill the wishes of a living will or the wishes of the appointed third party must immediately transfer the patient to a doctor that will.

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