This publication recently released by UPG America is part of a larger series of publications known as the "Legacy Series" which showcase a number of informative consumer brochures intended to help educate members of its Legacy Assurance Plan on a variety of estate planning issues.
PRLog - Nov. 6, 2014 - SARASOTA, Fla. -- Excerpt from the Legacy Assurance Plan, Legacy Series publication entitled "Living Wills and Advanced Directives".
In 1983, 25-year-old Nancy Cruzan, as a result of an auto accident, awoke from a coma in a persistent vegetative state. After four years awaiting a recovery, Cruzan’s family sought to remove her feeding tube. After three years of court wrangling, the Cruzan family finally convinced a judge that Nancy would not have wanted to live on artificial life support and received permission to have Nancy’s feeding tube removed.
In 1990, 26-year-old Terri Schiavo collapsed in her home. After ten weeks in a coma, Schiavo awoke in a persistent vegetative state. In 1998, Schiavo’s husband sought to remove her feeding tube. What ensued was a seven-year court struggle pitting Schiavo’s husband against her parents in a battle over whether to continue artificial life support. One of the common themes of these two women was that neither Cruzan nor Schiavo had advance directives expressing their wishes regarding artificial life support or other life-sustaining medical care. Both cases involved families going to court and asking judges to interpret what the incapacitated person’s wishes were. In the Schiavo case, that court battle featured an extremely bitter struggle between Terri’s husband and her parents.
An advance directive notifies your caregivers what kind of treatment you would like to have if you lose the ability to make medical decisions (for instance, if you become comatose or were in a persistent vegetative state). Many hospitals discuss advance directives with their patients at the time of the patient’s admission.
There are two common types of advance directives. The durable power of attorney for health care allows you to name an attorney-in-fact for health care decisions (also called a “proxy” or “advocate”) who will make decisions on your behalf regarding what treatment you do, or do not, want. The other advance directive, the living will, contains a set of instructions to health care providers to be followed in the event that you cannot communicate your wishes for yourself. A living will usually sets out specific directions as to the course of treatment that your caregivers should take, or, perhaps most importantly, sets out the treatments you wish to forbid your caregivers to undertake. These instructions are to be followed if you are unable to give informed consent due to incapacity.
A living will is an important tool for both your peace of mind and that of your family. With a living will, both your family and your doctors know what your wishes are. It can save you from subsisting in a state that you would never want to be in, and it can save your loved ones the painful burden of making end-of-life decisions on your behalf.
To find out more about this and other estate planning related topics, visit the UPG America website at www.upgamerica.com or visit www.legacyassuranceplan.com to find out more about how to enroll in the UPG America Legacy Assurance Plan.
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UPG America Publishes New Consumer Brochure Entitled "Living Wills and Advance Directives"
November 06, 2014 at 12:13 PM EST
