While most college students do not consider end-of-life procedures, it's an issue they should think about now because no one knows when tragedy will strike, a law attorney said.
"When you're in college, you feel invincible at that time," Nissa Ricafort, a family law attorney for Broyles Kight & Ricafort LLP in Indianapolis, said. "Nobody can imagine that their life could be changed. Nobody likes to think about it."
The nation was reminded that the unthinkable can happen as it watched Terri Schiavo's family battle over whether to continue using a feeding tube to keep her alive, she said. Had Schiavo created a living will prior to the 1990 accident that left her in a persistent vegetative state for the past 15 years, her husband and parents wouldn't have needed to argue the decision in court.
A living will is a legal document that allows people to indicate what health care, if any, they want if they are incapacitated and cannot make medical decisions for themselves, Ricafort said.
"The great thing about living wills is that they're very simple to do," she said. "It saves your family from going through the trauma Terri Schiavo went through."
Indiana law provides three options for a living will. A person can choose to receive artificially supplied food and water, choose to not receive artificially supplied food and water or make no decision on the topic and leave the choice up to a health care power of attorney.
Designating a health care power of attorney, or health care surrogate, is an integral component when determining end-of-life wishes, said Robert Lee, communications and public relations manager for the Hospice Foundation of America in Washington, D.C.
The health care surrogate is a person designated to make medical decision's on someone's behalf if that person is incapable of doing so for himself, Lee said.
If someone is in an accident and cannot communicate medical treatment decisions, the health care surrogate makes the decisions for him. But choosing a health care surrogate is something that deserves thought and discussion, Lee said.
"Before you decide, you need to have a discussion with that person to see if they're comfortable because everyone doesn't want that responsibility," he said. The surrogate should be a trusted person and does not necessarily have to be a family member. Friends and clergy members are commonly used as surrogates, he said.
If the living will states the injured person does not want treatment but the health care surrogate wants the injured person to receive treatment, the living will is the final say, Ricafort said.
A living will has to use specific language in order to be legal in Indiana, Ricafort said. It has to follow the format set forth in chapter four of the Indiana Code, which can be accessed through www.in.gov.
Two people must witness and sign the will. Witnesses cannot be a parent, spouse or child of the person creating the living will. Witnesses cannot be entitled to any part of the creator's estate upon death or be financially responsible for the creator's medical care.
Lee suggests having the living will notarized, even though Indiana does not require it. Notarization leaves no room for the document to be challenged, Lee said.
A lawyer should be consulted when someone is creating a living will, Ricafort said.
In order for a living will to take effect, a physician must certify that the injured person has an incurable injury, illness or disease; that death will happen in a short time and that the use of life-prolonging procedures would be useless in reviving the patient, Ricafort said.
In the absence of a living will or health care power of attorney, medical decisions left up to the injured person's spouse, Ricafort said. If the person is not married, medical decisions are left up to his or her parents if there is no living will.
"It is so your family members don't have to argue and fight about you," Ricafort said. "It can sure save a lot of time, a lot of money and emotional cost in the future."
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