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Advance Directives, Living Wills and the Like

A living will is another term for an advance directive for medical decisions. Living wills or advance directives are legal documents which allow you to speak concerning your wishes and desires in situations where you are unable to.  They tell medical professionals what your treatment desires are during dire medical emergencies and during end of life care. These legal documents come in varying types. A living will contains specific instructions regarding the types of life sustaining treatments that you wish or do not wish. They can cover intubation, feeding tubes, and the like.  You can indicate what types of life sustaining measure you wish to be undertaken and for how long. These directives act as a set of instructions which medical professionals are required to consult and act in accordance with if you have a valid living will on file with your doctor/and/or hospital.  These documents can also contain instructions regarding cremation, burial and the like. A do not re

Read before you sign

wikimedia commons  Corunna Coal Company 1890 Union Contract We live in a society that values orderliness. We like to know whose turn it is to proceed when we reach a four-way stop. We like to know what to expect in a given situation. This is the benefit that law can provide us. We like to know what is expected of us. If A, then B. If A happens before D, C happens. If no A, no B, etc. We enter into contracts all the time. Today, as never before, our lives are lived in an online world. We sign up for a service online. We buy products online. We "agree" to the terms of service without ever reading them.  We sign a document placed before us without reading it. We bind ourselves to unknown terms. We enter into contracts blindly. In California, and in other states. If you have signed it, you are deemed to have read it. That means you cannot plead ignorance to the contents of any document you sign. If you have signed it, if you have agreed to its terms by "click