What is a Living Will?
A Living Will is a written statement that expresses your resident’s desires with regard to health care treatment if he becomes mentally incapable and/or  physically incapable of expressing those desires. It can include instructions concerning the termination of life support.

What is a Health Care Proxy?
A Health Care Proxy is a document which allows your resident to designate a person to make health care decisions for him if he cannot make them for himself.
These decisions can involve the management of his health care in  order to keep him healthy. These decisions can also involve the termination of  life support.

What are the Relative Advantages and Disadvantages of a Living Will and a Health Care Proxy?
If there is someone he trusts to make health care decisions for him if he is not capable of making them for himself, he should consider  using a Health Care Proxy. In New York, by statute, the person he names as his health care agent in a Health Care Proxy can be given broad powers to make health care decisions for him. These decisions can include decisions necessary to help him regain his health. They can also include decisions concerning the termination of life support. If he does not have someone he wants to name as his health care agent, he should consider a Living Will.
For most people, it is better to have a Living Will than to have no advanced directive at all. However, a Living Will has some inherent disadvantages.

Where Can He Get a Form for a Living Will or Health Care Proxy?
He can have an attorney draw it up or he  can download one from our web site at the download section.

Religious Issues Involved in End-of-Life Decisions?
The obvious place to start if he has questions concerning the religious issues involved in end-of-life decisions is his own spiritual adviser. There is information on the web but not all of it is reliable. Some religious groups have not taken a definite position on some end-of-life issues.  In addition, some sub-groups within larger religious groups have differing opinions on these issues.
 
If He Decides to Sign a Health Care Proxy, How Does He Pick His Health Care Agent?
Health care proxy forms in most states permits him to name one agent and one alternate. Deciding whom to name as his health care agent is not always easy.

First and foremost, the person picked should literally be someone he trusts with his life. It is a rather ghoulish thing to say, but the truth of the matter is that most people’s obvious choice for health care agent is the person who will inherit their money when they die.
Second, a health care agent needs to be sophisticated enough to manage the health care system. The usual job of a health care agent is to make sure that you receive proper care and treatment from hospitals and other health care institutions. It sometimes takes significant time and effort to make sure that the right level of care is being provided to a patient.