ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT LIVING WILLS

As a Central Florida Wills and Trusts attorney, I get a lot of questions about living wills: ‘Do I need one?’, ‘How do they work?’, and most often ‘What is a living will anyways?’  So, let’s get started on answering those questions.

A Living Will is a legal document that lets you express your preferences regarding medical treatment if you become incapacitated and unable to communicate your wishes. It is often part of a comprehensive Healthcare Directive. A Living Will typically outlines the medical interventions you would or would not want in certain situations, such as life-sustaining treatments like artificial respiration, tube feeding, or resuscitation. Living Wills ensure that your healthcare preferences are respected and followed by medical professionals and loved ones when you are unable to make decisions for yourself.

Under Florida Law, a living will allows you to express your desire that your dying not be artificially prolonged if you are incapacitated and either in a:

• Terminal Condition, or
• End Stage Condition, or
• In a persistent vegetative state

If your primary physician, along with another consulting physician, determines that there is no reasonable medical probability of your recovery, you may direct that life-prolonging procedures be withheld or withdrawn when they would only artificially prolong the process of dying. You declare that you wish to be allowed to die naturally, receiving only the medication or medical procedures necessary for comfort care or pain relief.

A Living Will allows you to make clear to your family and your physician that you wish them to honor your legal right to refuse medical or surgical treatment and to accept the consequences of that decision.

It also allows you to designate a surrogate who will ensure that the choices you have made regarding the withholding, withdrawal, or continuation of life-prolonging procedures are carried out, in the event you are no longer capable of providing the express and informed consent necessary.

Hopefully, this answers some of your questions about a living will. If you have more questions or would like to start the process of developing a Living Will for you and your family’s peace of mind, call me, John Russo, an experienced Central Florida Wills and Trusts Attorney.