Digital Sign Living Will Template Made Easy

Digital sign living will template

doctors don't die like the rest of us have you ever thought about why you don't know doctors who have gone to nursing homes wise people in any profession at any age have good reason to think about the end of life how it might look either because they're planning for retirement and the advisors push for a long-term care policy or maybe because they've seen a loved one suffer the loss and indignities of moving into a nursing home you've seen it yourself bedridden or confined to a wheelchair disheveled wearing a confused look and a diaper never to return to the life she loved my name is Rita silent I have worked as a nurse anesthetist for four decades I've practiced in the deep south on the East Coast in the Midwest and finally in the Pacific Northwest I have never spoken to anyone who thinks living in a nursing home sounds good truthfully most say they would rather die first sadly only a very few understand that they have control the control to decide what measures are taken to sustain them as they age and become unable to think clearly and participate in decisions for themselves in this country we have the constitutional right to refuse medical care if we are saying when we write the directives our wishes must be honored but you have to write them consider comedian Joan Rivers former first lady barbara Bush and most recently Senator John McCain all of whom who did just that I can help you speak for yourself when you no longer have your voice making your power of attorney your mouthpiece not your decision maker now how do I do that I helped my mother when at age 88 she cried to me to never let her live the way her own sister was living in a nursing home we set together each wrote one page in our own handwriting specific instructions clear declarations of what we would not give consent for refusing to consent to measures that were intended to keep us alive long after our lives as we knew them or over is your advance directive strong and clear clear enough to protect you where your power of attorney speak your mind or cave to the heavy burden of guilt when choosing between letting you go or consenting to measures that sustain your life disabled and dependent what's more do you have children siblings a spouse please believe me when I tell you what I have seen often at the deathbed of a loved one people are scared sad and confused and they often disagree sometimes loudly the responsible physician in the hospital they want clarity in the absence of clarity accepted medical protocols steps to maintain and support life will be used abandoning that patient's wishes in order to avoid liability and lawsuit at any cost and who can blame them perhaps it isn't at the deathbed perhaps you develop dementia or Alzheimer's if you're unable to speak or think clearly you will no longer be allowed legally to control your own destiny consenting to or refusing measures that sustain your life after the life you lived in love is over accepted medical protocols that sustain life functions are used every day in our country in nursing homes where many live for years bedridden wheelchair-bound in diapers confused dependent disabled handwriting what we do not want is a powerful tool to avoid languishing in humiliating and disrespectful scenarios it is also a sound investment my mother my hero wrote her own hen written living will in 2013 refusing the medications and the interventions that are designed to sustain life indefinitely she had a serious fall five years later and died exactly as she had hoped warm dry pain free anxiety free with me at her side seven days later not seven months not seven years in a nursing home her handwritten simple directions told all who cared her exactly what she did not want she gave them clarity no confusion no argument so how do you do this how do you write this handwritten living will well I want to help and my contact information will follow so that you may reach me personally and I hope you will but let me walk you through a little bit so you can take charge on your own and be your own hero first by accepting that we will all arrive there the end of life none of us will get out of this alive death is not a failure and mother nature is a gentle physician I have chosen her as mine once I'm clearly unable to live the life I have loved independent making choices for myself and having fun it's not complicated let's start decide under which conditions you want this document to speak for you for me personally when I am no longer able to give legal consent from my own mouth do to debilitating stroke advanced tumor severe trauma progressive illness like Alzheimer's or the frailty of advanced age and there is no scientific data to support that I would ever recover to live the life I love for me living at home on my own then I refused the following life-sustaining measures number one antibiotics none not for pneumonia not for urinary tract infection number two blood thinners not aspirin not plavix not coumadin any drug meant to thin the blood blood pressure medication specifically no beta blockers interventions no feeding tubes temporary or permanent no force feeds and no IV hydration if following these specifics means that I must be moved to Hospice I give permission for hospice and welcome treatment for pain and for anxiety I give permission for both okay now think what child or sibling or spouse will be able to argue your own intentions if you actually wrote these specifics in your own handwriting so now you've written your own handwritten living well now what sign it in front of a witness who signs it too if your state demands a notary public for your advance directive do it for your handwritten living will follow your state's expectation I'm not a lawyer so ask yours how to assure that your handwritten living will will be honored then make three copies and give it to people you trust the sad truth is that your lawyer and your primary care doctor will not come to your deathbed give these copies to people who will be there and who will speak for you when you have no voice everyone needs one of these this is your state's boilerplate copy of an advanced directive I hope you have one and I hope you filled it out and it filed it in a safe place but more importantly I hope you have this one page hen written living will attached with a staple to your advance directive this is the statement that details what I refused when I will never return to the life that I know to be my normal life and so I defined my normal life and in writing yours you can too you