Advance Directive For A Natural Death ("Living Will": Fill & Download for Free

A living will is usually shorthand for an advance directive that generally focuses on end of life decisions and each jurisdiction may have their own more formal name for the living will document with names such as a Declaration of a Desire for a Natural Death that may be different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Great answer by Robert Varipapa - and not much to add - but there was a 60 Minutes segment about a year ago that covered this topic really well. Called the The Cost of Dying. The full transcript is here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/19/60minutes/main5711689.shtmlAlso, Dr. Jim deMaine has an excellent blog on this subject too - End of Life - thoughts from an MD: http://www.endoflifeblog.comAnother website that can be helpful is around the subject of Advance Directives - which includes Durable Power of Attorney and a Living Will. A good starting point for that is here:http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/advancedirectives.htmlI do think the Government can do more to make the legality of Advance Directives more universally applicable. As it is today - each state seems to have separate rules and laws governing this and it's not always easy for caregivers to navigate these given how mobile we've become.Disappointed that some of the earliest debates on this subject deteriorated into a polarized view of "death panels." IMHO - that set back the discussion at least 5 years. Given the legally binding nature of Advance Directives I think that an executed Durable Power of Attorney should be a prerequisite for anyone wishing to debate the subject. I have no issue with someones desire to be on life-support for months - or endlessly resuscitated - that is there right. Given that ICU costs roughly about $10,000 a day - we do need to find a way to balance those wishes with the huge expense that is typically not funded out-of-pocket.One of several companion questions to this one is: Should assisted suicide be made legal?Not the easiest subject - but an important one - and one that needs debate, discussion with loved ones - and then action.

Pretty much answered but there is a huge difference between DNR and physician directed orders for do not resuscitateGoing one step further if an emergency team is summoned they MUST provide assistance. The only way to not have CPR performed is to not call them. Now once you are IN the hospital things CAN change (state dependent). If you are a chronic care patient in SOME states a physician can have "standing medical orders" prepared and in the possession of either the family or the medical records or both that state what can and can't be done BUT that doesn't kick in UNTIL you are actually IN the EDSo if you pass out in the parking lot they must try to resuscitate you until they get you inside and determine IF a living will, advanced directive and the physician standing orders are available.The more current term is AND not DNR AND means Allow Natural Death which sort of started after the worldwide media frenzy over the Quinlan case of years ago where the patient's pre-death verbal meanings were never documented and family debated as to who knew more about her wishes etcAND is gaining popularity since it means not to just withhold CPR but to simply allow natural occurances to happen with no interferences and it is less intrusive so that it is more positive as opposed to withholding it is simply an order to stand and watch whatever happens to happenThere is the proposal (not sure where it is in Congress) to allow a "pink form" which is a specialized legal document to be created between a patient the acting physician and the family so everyone knows the rules as to what to do and what not to do and when but so far this has stalled and not passed to my knowledge. The BEST way to avoid prolonged death intervention is to talk to your family and loved ones so they know exactly what you want and then DOCUMENT that so that all members of your care team are aware. Make sure your family knows not to dial 911 and to simply honor your wishes.You CAN if you really want to let ED staff know what your desires are tattoo your ID info to one of the services that archives your wishes in case that your immediate family is not available at that moment the ED team will contact the service to provide them copies of the legally binding documents but the "pink form" must be updated (again based on each states rules usually every year) so that won't be part of the recordsDr D