80% Of Americans Risk Not Have A Living Will

Research continues to suggest that 4 of every 5 Americans do not have a Living Will, and that around half of Living Wills have been so hastily prepared that they would be ignored by medical professionals.

(PRWEB) January 8, 2006 -- Can you imagine yourself in this harrowing type of situation, which happens everyday throughout the country?

Completely unexpectedly, your elderly mother collapses from a major stroke, and she lays in the hospital bed for eight weeks, unable to communicate with anyone. Then the doctors take you to one side to tell you that she is developing life-threatening pneumonia. They ask what you want done. You are panicky and confused - should you let them try to treat the pneumonia with antibiotics or should you let nature run its course? In this extremely torturous situation, you will literally have to decide if your mother lives or dies. If antibiotics are administered and the pneumonia is cured, she would probably spend the rest of her days hospitalized and comatose. Under this awful pressure, you have to make a heart-wrenching decision - and then live with it for the rest of your life.

Do you want to put your loved ones in that situation? Or would you rather relieve them of having to make these most agonizing, yet vitally urgent, decisions about your future? Today, life support systems can keep your body alive for many years, even if your brain is no longer functioning or you are in constant pain. Research at Penn State University's Center for Special Populations and Health has indicated that in at least two-thirds of cases, the awful burden of dealing with a family's affairs in the final days of life falls on women, normally spouse or daughter. How would your closest family cope with having to make vital medical decisions at such an anguished time?

A living will could be the simple, effective answer, and is encouraged by every state of the US.

A living will can give clear written instructions to your family and professionals as to which medical treatments are acceptable under specified conditions. It enables you to state exactly what can or cannot be done to keep you alive, and normally only becomes effective when you are unable to express your wishes yourself. It is extremely difficult and stressful for you to make medical directives whilst in the throes of a serious disease or accident process. You may, of course, be totally incapable of communicating your wishes. It is therefore highly desirable to prepare directives of your wishes whilst you are relatively healthy and capable.

Your wishes may vary as your experiences and beliefs change, so living wills can be updated from time to time to take account of such changes.

Contact Cliff Bowden for more insights into this topic. Other helpful information can be found at: http://www.EliteLivingWills.com.

For More Information Contact:
Cliff Bowden
www.EliteLivingWills.com

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