Estate Planning

Living Will

Living Wills are authorized under Florida Statute 765.101(11)(B). The Living Will originated from the Karen Ann Quinlin case in 1976. The parents of Karen Ann Quinlin wanted to terminate all life support for Karen because she was clinically brain dead and the cost of keeping her alive on machines was bankrupting the family. After many years in litigation, the court finally allowed the family to terminate Karen's life support. She subsequently lived for quite a while without the aid of machines.

The Living Will is a relatively well known and simple document that states the desires of the person signing it. The Will usually says that the signer shall not be kept alive by artificial means. Basically, a Living Will states that you should "feed me", "water me" and then "unplug me" if I have a terminal condition from which I am not expected to survive. Living Wills can be modified to withhold food and water. According to a recent newspaper article, individuals who go into the hospital for their final stay with a Living Will, on the average, have a hospital bill 30% lower than those who die without a Living Will.

We all know that being kept alive one or two extra days in intensive care, hooked up to machines, is very expensive. If there is no chance of recovery, then a Living Will saves your family added medical expenses and the emotional struggle of deciding what to do. Signing a Living Will has other benefits for your family.

Not long ago, a client told this writer about her sister's recent death. The sister was terminally ill and had not signed a Living Will. The treating doctor called the family together. The client went with her sister's husband and son to meet the doctor. The doctor explained that the patient was brain dead with no chance of recovery. He asked them to make the decision to terminate her life. The family agreed. The plug was pulled and the patient died. Since then, the client has suffered because she feels that she participated in the decision to terminate her sister's life. Had the sister signed a Living Will, the decision would have been her own. The family would have agreed with the decision but not have made it. This distinction can be very important to some family members. Following is an example of a basic Living Will:

LIVING WILL

DAVID BLAZE

TO MY FAMILY, MY PHYSICIAN, MY LAWYER, MY CLERGYMEN TO ANY MEDICAL FACILITY IN WHOSE CARE I HAPPEN TO BE: TO ANY INDIVIDUAL WHO MAY BECOME RESPONSIBLE FOR MY HEALTH WELFARE OR AFFAIRS:

Death is as much a reality as birth, growth, maturity and old age -- it is the one certainty of life. If the time comes when I can no longer take part in decisions for my own future, let this statement stand as an expression of my wishes while I am still of sound mind.

I, DAVID BLAZE, willfully and voluntarily make known my desire that my dying not be artificially prolonged under the circumstances set forth below, and I do hereby declare:

If at any time I should have a terminal condition, an end-state condition or I am in a persistent vegetative state and if my attending or treating physician and another consulting physician have determined that there is no reasonable medical probability of my recovery from such condition, I direct that life-prolonging procedures be withheld or withdrawn when the application of such procedures would serve only to prolong artificially the process of dying, and that I be permitted to die naturally with only the administration of medication or the performance of any medical procedure deemed necessary to provide me with comfort, care or to alleviate pain.

In the absence of my ability to give directions regarding the use of such life-prolonging procedures, it is my intention that this declaration be honored by my family and physician as the final expression of my legal right to refuse medical or surgical treatment and to accept the consequences for such refusal.

I understand the full import of this declaration, and I am emotionally and mentally competent to make this declaration.

DATED: _______________.

The declarant is known to me, and I believe him or her to be of sound mind.

Witness_______________________________________ Witness_______________________________________

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