If you had a terminal condition, would you want your dying artificially prolonged?
The Health Care Directive (commonly known as a "living will") is the legal document allowing you to answer this question in writing. This directive is used only if you have a terminal condition as certified by your physician, where life-sustaining treatment would only artificially prolong the process of dying; or you are certified by two physicians to be in an irreversible coma or other permanent unconscious condition and there is no reasonable hope of recovery. In either situation, the directive allows treatment to be withheld or withdrawn so that you may die naturally.
You may also direct whether you would want artificially provided nutrition (food) and hydration (water) stopped under these circumstances. Also in the directive, you can give further instructions regarding your care.
The Health Care Directive must be signed by you and two witnesses who are not related to you and will not inherit anything from you. You can change or revoke this directive at any time.
The Health Care Directive allows people who clearly do not want their lives artificially prolonged under the above conditions to make their wishes known.
Click here for the Health Care Directive form (PDF).
What To Do With This Form
The Health Care Directive form is a legal document once it has been completely filled out and signed with the appropriate signatures.
Signed copies of the completed directives should be included in your medical record, given to any person to whom you give your durable power of attorney—including any alternate people you may have named—and to your personal attorney. Originals should be kept by someone you trust and who can obtain them in an emergency.