Tips for creating
a living will
Know your options. Decide exactly what kind of medical care you do or don’t want. As medical technology continues to evolve, so will the choices.
Write the will. Though a number of web sites provide standard forms, each state has different laws about living wills, so consult an attorney to get it right. Have the document notarized and/or witnessed as state law dictates.
Choose an advocate. This person, not necessarily a family member, is someone who will stand up for your wishes and the execution of your living will.
Spread the word. Make copies of the will for your advocate or personal representative, family members, clergy and doctor.
Keep the will up to date. Review the will at least once a year and make any changes.
Employer focus
Helping employees put their houses in order
As you’re wrapping up enrollment, updating systems with employees’ benefits choices, determining the impact of reform on your health care plans in 2011 and encouraging employees to get and stay healthy, here’s one more thing to add to your health care to do list: encourage employees to put their health care wishes in writing.
Come again? What does creating a living will have to do with your role in managing employee benefits? Betty Long, a registered nurse and founder of Guardian Nurses Healthcare Advocates, puts it this way, “As HR/benefits professionals communicate with and educate employees about their health care options, they have a unique opportunity to create more awareness about treatment directives.”
Health care professionals like Long, as well as estate planning attorneys and end-of-life issues specialists are emphatic about the need for every person over the age of 18 to have a living will. With good reason. They see firsthand the turmoil and heartache of family members who didn’t know or didn’t understand a loved one’s wishes for how he wanted health care to be delivered – and if and when she wanted it to be withdrawn.
Advance directives primer
Messages about end-of-life issues or emergency medical care aren’t every day water-cooler discussion topics so a good place to start is with basic facts.
- Living wills are legally valid and binding documents that direct a patient's physician to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures in certain circumstances. In most states, patients have a right to make this directive if they are terminally ill or if life-sustaining procedures serve only to postpone the moment of death.
- Living wills are part of a larger category known as advance directives which also includes a medical power of attorney (POA). A medical POA allows another person to make medical decisions for the patient if he or she is unable to make them at any time, not just at the end of life.
Living wills and other advance directives aren’t just for older adults. Accidents and illness happen at any age. As you assist employees in making choices about their health care benefits, help them think beyond where they go for treatment to what’s important for their family and physician to know about how they want to be treated.
Help is available
To be valid and effective, living wills and other advance directives must be prepared and executed according to state law. And each state’s requirements are somewhat different. That’s why it is important to have assistance from an attorney in drafting and executing a living will or medical POA.
Through our group life insurance programs, we make available a legal services network and legal resources provided by Ceridian LifeWorks. These resources are available to employees, their spouses and dependents. For more information, contact your regional group sales manager or client relationship advisor.
Sources:
Long, Betty. “Encourage Employees to Sign Living Wills," Employee Benefit News, September 2009
Mayo Clinic.
Resources:
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization provides free advance directives templates and instructions for each state.
U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
The information provided in this article is for general reference only and is not legal advice. You should consult an attorney who is licensed to practice law in your state of residence to interpret and apply this information to your particular situation.
