Maine Planning Package Application

An advance directive is a set of instructions someone prepares in advance of ill health that determines his healthcare wishes. A living will is one type of advance directive that becomes effective when a person is terminally ill.

The living will. Durable power of attorney for health care/Medical power of attorney. POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) Do not resuscitate (DNR) orders. Organ and tissue donation.

A living will is only valid if you are unable to communicate your wishes. A health care power of attorney gives someone else (the proxy) the ability to make decisions for you regarding your health care. Unlike a living will, it applies to both end-of-life treatment as well as other areas of medical care.

You can give a person complete authority to make all decisions, or limit them significantly to make only specific decisions.If you want specificity, it is better to do that in your living will, which the person with a durable power of attorney cannot override.

A living will is a document that explains whether or not you want to be kept on life support if you become terminally ill and will die shortly without life support, or fall into a persistent vegetative state.A living will becomes effective only when you cannot communicate your desires on your own.

A living will becomes effective when your primary physician decides that you can no longer make your own healthcare decisions. If you are ill or injured and cannot express your healthcare wishes, and your doctor certifies this fact in writing, your living will takes effect.

A living will is a written, legal document that spells out medical treatments you would and would not want to be used to keep you alive, as well as your preferences for other medical decisions, such as pain management or organ donation. In determining your wishes, think about your values.

Although the documents may come into play during similar circumstances, they have different purposes. In short, a living will presents decisions you've made ahead of time regarding your own end-of-life health care, and a power of attorney names the person who can make financial or health care decisions for you.

The cost of setting up a living will varies from state to state, depending on whether it must be witnessed by a notary. Costs typically fall between $250-$500 to hire a lawyer to draft the living will, while forms can be self-completed for between $45 and $75.