These days, regardless of what age you are, many hospitals require that you have a living will before any surgery is done on you. Sometimes, they’ll hand you a living will form that you fill out, check the appropriate boxes, sign your name and then hand it in to the hospital before you undergo your procedure.

How confident are you that your living will is sufficient and will cause the hospital staff and doctors to follow your wishes?

Many older folks want a ‘DNR’ – ‘do not resuscitate’ order in the event your heart or breathing stops. A common mistake is made when older folks believe that their living will automatically carries a DNR order for the staff or that your living will can be ambiguous and subject to interpretation by the attending doctor.

For example, look at the case of a 78-year-old man being treated in the emergency room by Dr. Monica Williams-Murphy, per this report:

“Don’t resuscitate this patient; he has a living will,” the nurse told Dr. Monica Williams-Murphy, handing her a document.

“Williams-Murphy looked at the sheet bearing the signature of the unconscious 78-year-old man, who’d been rushed from a nursing home to the emergency room. “Do everything possible,” it read, with a check approving cardiopulmonary resuscitation.”

“The nurse’s mistake was based on a misguided belief that living wills automatically include “do not resuscitate” (DNR) orders. Working quickly, Williams-Murphy revived the patient, who had a urinary tract infection and recovered after a few days in the hospital…”

How common is the problem with living wills and DNR wishes? Believe it or not, is this not something that most hospitals normally tracked. However, in Pennsylvania, it is tracked and this is what they found:

“A new report out of Pennsylvania, which has the nation’s most robust system for monitoring patient safety events, treats mix-ups involving end-of-life documents as medical errors — a novel approach. It found that in 2016, Pennsylvania health care facilities reported nearly 100 events relating to patients’ ‘code status’ — their wish to be resuscitated or not, should their hearts stop beating and they stop breathing. In 29 cases, patients were resuscitated against their wishes. In two cases, patients weren’t resuscitated despite making it clear they wanted this to happen.”

“The rest of the cases were ‘near misses’ — problems caught before they had a chance to cause permanent harm.”

What are your wishes going into the hospital or in the event of an emergency?

Recently, my wife and I met with an attorney about our wills and other legal matters in the event of our deaths. We had our oldest daughter with us as she is the executor of our estate and may have to make the decision on whether or not to pull the plug on either my wife or myself. We learned from the attorney that living wills filled out for hospitals are not always followed or clear as the legal wishes of the patient. He helped us with legal documents that spell out our wishes in the event of an emergency or surgery.

Yes, there was a cost, but for everything he did, it wasn’t as much as we expected. If at all possible, I highly recommend that everyone, especially older folks, find an attorney that can help them draw up a binding living will that is far better than what the hospitals have you fill out. Spending the money now can save you or your loved ones thousands of dollars that could result from any misunderstanding or not following a hospital’s living will.