Living Wills Attorney in California
To maintain control over your medical treatment in the event life-threatening illness or injury leaves you without the ability to speak on your own behalf, you should consider drafting a living will. Living wills can be an integral part of anyone’s estate plan. At LA | Estate Plans, our living wills attorney in California will discuss end-of-life care decisions that you can make in a living will and then draft and execute a valid document. There’s no harm in always being prepared for the worst, and at LA | Estate Plans, we want our clients to be well-informed and engaged in these types of decisions. To learn more contact us today by Scheduling Your Peace of Mind Planning Session.
What Constitutes a Living Will in California?
A patient’s healthcare wishes are only triggered when the patient is unable to make decisions on their own. This can happen when the patient:
- Is in a coma
- Is unconscious
- Suffers from dementia or Alzheimer’s
- Is in a vegetative state
A living will allows doctors and the patient’s loved ones to provide the treatment that the patient would have wanted, rather than having to guess what the patient would want. The medical preferences in the living will can be specific or general but should consider most if not all of the following:
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which restarts the heart when it has stopped beating
- Mechanical ventilation, which is a device that breathes for you
- Tube feeding, where fluids and nutrients are delivered either intravenously or by a tube in the stomach
- Dialysis, a method to remove waste from your blood and manage fluid levels if the kidneys do not function properly
- Antibiotics or antiviral medications, which are used to treat all sorts of infections
- Palliative care, which is basically comfort care to manage pain
- Organ, tissue, or body donations, which could mean that you are treated with life-sustaining care temporarily.
You should also come up with a timeframe to emerge from a coma before ending life support or to determine how long you want any of the above medical treatments.
The Benefits of a Living Will in California
Living Will vs Last Will and Testament in California
Living wills are different from a last will and testament in two important respects:
- Living wills take effect when the person is still alive, while a last will and testament only applies when the person has passed away.
- Living wills direct healthcare decisions, while last will and testament directs how the deceased person’s property is to be distributed.
A single person can have both a living will and a last will and testament. In fact, you should have both.
Contact a Living Wills Attorney in California Today
There are many reasons to have a living will, but having one is different from having a well-drafted one. You want to think about your values and how important it is for you to be independent or self-sufficient versus not being and having someone else care for you. At LA | Estate Plans, our estate planning attorney in Los Angeles will go over all these things with you and help you determine what’s best for you. Schedule Your Peace of Mind Planning Session today.