Monday, October 20, 2014

Living Will Or Advance Directive

A Living Will, is basically a legal document that describes the preferences of an individual, if he/she is unable to communicate properly, in case of terminal illness or other reasons like getting incapacitated, being in consistent state of coma, unconsciousness, and incapability to respond to the worldly events. An individual in condition of terminal illness, can clearly specify his/her desire to go for a medical treatment or not in the living will. A living Will can not be considered as a Will or a Testament and can not replace it at any point of time. Both Living Will and Will constitute a comprehensive estate plan.

Once a living will is drafted, it should be kept safe, and made known to the concerned medical and legal authorities. One can also chose a person, in the living will, to act as his/her representative for any specific kind of decisions on the individual's behalf. A Living will is also called an Advance Directive.

The Advantages of a Living Will

The most important advantage, a living will provides is the assurance of the unhindered execution of certain actions, an individual wishes to get done. Once a living will is drafted and signed off, the statements are guaranteed to be carried on, as per their design, irrespective of the individual's physical state. Another major advantage Living will serves, is the possibility of a healthy and appropriate resolution to any dispute, regarding the property or other issues that may crop up among the subject's family, friends and close relatives.

A Living will is extremely facilitative, when the patient's burdens of treatment gets more overwhelming than the benefits it offers. Living wills assures that your doctors and physicians conform to your wishes and requirements, if you are not able to convey this to them. In most of the cases, doctors do what they think is right and needful. It is of significant importance that an individual lets his wishes indubitably acknowledged by everyone, because if he/she is incapable to express, as to whether he would like to stay alive by artificial means or medical support and suffer beyond tolerance, or rather prefer dying in peace, the law and medical practitioners would always try to assist as much as they can to make the person live. One can alter and update the course of actions in their living will if they can determine this, by thinking about such things much in advance.

Once a living will is prepared, designed and signed off, the law is bound to follow the instructions as per decided by the living will. In case a living will (or advanced directive) has been executed for the patient, the medical institutions taking care of the patient must always properly document and record this in his history. There are several regulations determined by the local laws that govern the living will and its execution. All the Health care institutions and organization must comply to these regulations.

Living will is very substantial in the situations regarding health care, mostly for unpredictable cases like accident etc. It is advisable that everyone must prepare in advance to such situations, and have an updated living will with them.

Living Will Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Camy_Divine

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3725063

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