Practical Practitioner
By: Pamela Egan, FNP-C CDE
Living Wills are important to make your wishes known
Dear Pam,
My husband and I are in our 70s, and we are thinking about signing a living will. Do you have any information about living wills?
The law in the state of Louisiana states each person may decide their own medical care.
That includes deciding about respirators, surgery, medications or other procedures when you, the patient, have a terminal and irreversible condition.
The law states your wishes must be followed even if you are no longer able to make decisions about your medical care. The way that you are able to do this is with a living will.
What is a living will? A living will in Louisiana, is a legal document or paper which allows you, the patient, to decide about the medical treatment you want if you have been diagnosed as having a terminal and irreversible condition or you are in a coma and not able to express your opinion at the time.
In a living will, you may state that life-sustaining procedures be withheld or withdrawn and you be allowed to die naturally. You may state you want pain medicine and other care to provide relief from pain and unnecessary suffering.
You might ask, “Who may make a living will”?
Any adult may, at any time, make a written living will, which will tell his/her healthcare provider to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures if he/she is diagnosed as having a terminal and irreversible medical condition or is in a coma with no reasonable chance of recovery provided the following conditions are met:
- A written document has been signed by the patient in front of two witnesses who must also sign the document.
The witnesses are adults of sound mind who will not inherit from or benefit from the death of the patient.
A statement of the patient’s wishes may also be made by any non-written means, either oral or non-verbal (sign-language), by a responsible party before two witnesses (as stated above).
The oral or non-verbal statement may only be made after the patient has been diagnosed as having a terminal and irreversible condition or is in a coma with no reasonable chance of recovery.
No one is required to fill out these documents, but you have the choice to do so now instead of leaving the decision to your family in a time of crisis. The care you receive in the hospital and from you physician will not be changed should you decide not to make a living will.
It is your responsibility to notify you healthcare provider that you have made an advance directive (living will).
However, if you become unable to communicate this to your clinician, then any other person who knows about your advance directives may inform the clinician of it.
This article was originally published December 29, 2003 in The St. Tammany News.
PamelaEgan.com > Health Articles > Women’s Health
