Living Wills vs. Health Care Proxy

In today's day and age, with people living much longer and dealing with the resulting illnesses that result, I cannot stress the importance of drawing up a Living Will or Health Care Proxy enough.

A Living Will is a legal document that lets your loved ones and medical professionals know how you wish to be treated in certain health care situations where you are not able to express your wishes. For example, the Living Wills that I draw up for clients have the language "These instructions apply if I am a) in a terminal condition; b) permanently unconscious; or c) if I am minimally conscious but have irreversible brain damage and will never regain the ability to make decisions and express my wishes."

Living Wills will often cover the topics of life prolonging medical treatments such as life support and resuscitation.

A Health Care Proxy, on the other hand, is a legal document that designates a person who is to make health care decisions for you in the event you are not able to express your wishes. A Health Care Proxy can cover anything from overall management of care to life support termination.





Before you decide to draw up a Health Care Proxy, you should consider who you will design to make your health care decisions. When you draw up a Health Care Proxy in New York, you are allowed to pick one agent and one alternate as a backup. Remember that a Health Care Proxy can have broad decision making authority that includes life or death situations. It is important to pick a health care proxy that you not only trust to make difficult decisions but know to be competent enough to handle a stressful and responsibility-laden tasks. It is a common misconception that a health care agent is only involved during a critical moment such as deciding to "pull the plug", but the truth is that health care agents have the responsibility of managing your care. This means they must ensure that you are receiving the competent treatment and an accurate diagnosis and should be familiar enough with the healthcare system to manage the paperwork and red tape that come along with it. It is a difficult job and your health care agent should not be chosen lightly.

You should always sit your health care agent down and discuss the details of your wishes before you fill out a Health Care Proxy. This ensures that your health care agent has accurate and up to date information on how you would like your health care handled. Again, there is no way to prepare for every possibility, but you should make sure to discuss what treatment you would like if you were in a coma, vegetative state, or had a brain injury. You should also consider the circumstances in which you would pain medication, and if you would want to continue to receive pain medication in a dire situation, even if it would shorten your life.

If you do not have someone in your life who you trust to make major health care decisions for you, a Living Will could be a better choice for you. However, if you do decide on a Living Will, there are a few things you should be aware of. The first is that it is difficult to cover all possible circumstances in a Living Will, so the possibility that someone will need to interpret your wishes for you will always exist, however small it may be. Another thing to consider is that in New York there is no statute governing Living Wills.

Most importantly, it is vital to have legal documents planning your health care in the event you are unable to. Serious health issues are a stressful event for both the afflicted person and their loved ones. One of the best things you can do is to prepare for such situations so that the process goes as smoothly as possible for everyone involved. If you haven't drawn up a Living Will or Health Care Proxy yet, please consult an attorney. You can contact my office at 718-317-5007.