# Living Wills - What's in Yours?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-wills-whats-in-yours/209867>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 27, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-wills-whats-in-yours/209867 "2003-10-27T17:37:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-wills-whats-in-yours/209867/1 "2003-10-27T17:37:02Z")

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The Terry Schiavo case has made the public much more aware of the need for advance medical directives or living wills. Up to now I haven’t given this subject much thought, but given the wide variety of conditions that could arise I’m finding it difficult to define my wishes exactly.

If you have already created a living will, what provisions are in it and how did you determine what to include or exclude?

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**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-wills-whats-in-yours/209867/2 "2003-10-27T18:36:27Z")

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General Questions is for questions with factual answers; IMHO is for opinions and polls. I’ll move this to IMHO for you.

**DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator

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**Author:** ![lauramarlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a5b964/32.png) [@lauramarlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lauramarlane)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-wills-whats-in-yours/209867/3 "2003-10-27T19:03:25Z")

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I attended a workshop on the resources that are available to help prepare people for the end of their lives. This was at a conference for librarians. Anyway, it made me realize that not only did I need to update my will, but I really should have a living will (medical proxy) and a medical power of attorney done as well.

Quality of life is very important to me. If I’m not mentally there anymore and there’s no chance I will be, then I don’t want to be kept alive. There are lots of things to consider and I reviewed lots of living will books and discussed the local laws with my lawyer to come to an arrangement that I felt comfortable with.

Both my children are minors and my partner and I aren’t married so I really needed to have the proxy and power of attorney in place to make sure he has the authority to act on my behalf. He and I talked about what I want him to do if something happens to me. The power of attorney allows him to handle all my finances if anything happens to me and I can’t do it myself. And the proxy spells out what I want medically and gives him the authority to make any decisions for me if I’m unable to do so.