In the last article, Clyde visited his attorney to review his will. His attorney pointed out that hand-written changes to his will might have revoked it under Maryland law. His attorney also pointed out that Clyde’s medical directives needed to be redrafted.

After the appointment, Clyde called his attorney with a question. "I was talking to my son in Wyoming," Clyde reported, "and he asked why my living will needed rewriting. I looked at it, and it says what I want. Are you sure that needs to be done?"

Invisibly to Clyde, his attorney nodded. "That’s a good question, and a common one. There are two things you need to think about.

"First, a living will written in Colorado might not work the way you want it to in Maryland. A true story might illustrate that point best.

"A couple was traveling from New York to New Jersey on one of the bridges across the river. In an accident on the bridge, the husband and wife each received critical injuries from which they would immediately die but for continuing life support.

"Ambulances came from each side – one from New York, one from New Jersey. The husband went north, the wife went south.

"The couple each had a living will, identical except for the names at the top and signature page. By the terms of the wife’s living will construed under New Jersey law, her life support could be removed immediately, and she could be allowed to die naturally.

"Under New York law, under the same document and with the same injuries, the husband’s life support could not be removed absent a court order. The children were faced with the additional cost, indignity and trauma of paying an attorney to file a case in New York so a judge could decide whether their father could be allowed to die.

"The documents were the same, the injuries were the same – but the law was different. The same thing could happen to you, using a Colorado document in Maryland. The law could construe certain words differently and you could end up with a different result than the one you wanted."

"Humph," Clyde grunted, "I wouldn’t want that. What was your other point?"

"Second," the attorney continued, "living wills are not as effective as people think they are. At a recent continuing legal education seminar I attended, the speaker said that ‘living wills are wonderful documents, except that they don’t work.’

"What she meant is that a living will only tells your doctor when to withhold or withdraw life support. Doctors don’t want to be in the position of deciding when you should be allowed to die. They want your family to make that decision.

"Also, a living will only deals with life-or-death decisions. If you become unable to make decisions for yourself, you need someone to make more ‘ordinary’ decisions, such as the choice of medications, whether to try experimental treatment, etc. That’s why it’s better to use an advance care directive which states your intentions, coupled with a medical power of attorney delegating authority to someone to make decisions if you can’t."

"I understand," said Clyde. "Go ahead then, get the medical document ready for me to look at."