How do you get a living will/advance directive?

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How do you make one and who do you submit it to? Oh, and what is a living will? Is it just for not wanting to be resuscitated, or is it for other things too, like how you want to be treated in the hospital/group home/nursing home/rehabilitation facility?

Here's my advance directive for family and medical staff:


1. Regardless of my condition, please assume that I have full cognitive function and am aware of what is going on around me, and treat me accordingly. Do not treat me like an animal, a machine, a child, a ret*d or, most of all, an inanimate object.


2. Regardless of the condition I am in when you tell me, I want you (the medical staff) to tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth about my condition.


3. If I can't move, and especially if I can't talk either, please stimulate me by talking to me, touching me, reading to me, turning on the TV for me, taking me places, etc.


4. If I am declared dead, please leave my remains alone in a non-freezing environment until they begin to decompose, to ensure that I am really dead.



Can somebody please help me? I don't know how to make it legal.

Try going down to your library and find a book on the matter - it will probably be in the reference section and copy out the forms you need.

Also, some employers offer Employee Assistance Programs at no charge to you. Usually wills and advance directives are included within the services they offer.

If I work for a hospital, like if I'm a paramedic, I bet they'll have that... but that will take 2 years, because it will take about 2 years to become a paramedic... in the meantime, I guess I'll just have to carry my detailed "advance directive" paper with me everywhere and make my family read it and acknowledge what I want... which I'll have to do anyway since I just found out that an advance directive is just good for do-not-resucscitate plans and naming a person to make decisions for you... and that's probably all a living will is good for too.