By Frank Brand
Do you have a living will? According to a recent poll conducted by the Associated Press and LifeGoesStrong.com, as many as 64 percent of baby boomers, including those of retirement age do not have a living will.
Do not to confuse a living will with a living trust. A living will or advanced directive is a legal document that states what kind of medical intervention you want if you become incapacitated and are not able to verbalize your wishes. In addition, a health care proxy or health care power of attorney allows you to designate someone to make end-of-life decision for you, if you are unable to speak for yourself.
Most baby boomers are focused on being healthy and don?t want to think about death and dying. No one wants to imagine lying in a hospital close to death and not being able to tell his or her doctor what to do.
If you were lying in a hospital in a coma because on an automobile accident, would you like the medical team to do whatever is necessary to keep you alive, even if you?d be in a vegetative state. Would you want to be kept alive on a breathing machine? Or would you prefer not to be resuscitated if it would diminish your quality of life. Most people have an opinion about what choices they would make in these situations.
Until you take the time to write it down, your wishes may not be followed. Both the living will and health care power of attorney should be completed and placed on file at your local hospital. Most hospitals have blank forms. Make sure you let your proxy know you have designated them and let them know what your desires are.
No one likes to think of dying. But, even worse than dying is not having control over the process. If you don?t make the decision and let your views known, the hospital and medical personnel will make them for you. What could be worse than that?
crosscountry4x4 shutters perth Fiji Islands sheikh shk mohammed al-abbar wikileaks
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন