My mother does not have a living will. I have medical power of attorney for her. How important is a living will?

If your mother has given you medical power of attorney, but she has not specified what her decisions would be in particular scenarios, what she has said is that she trusts your judgement. She trusts you to act for her in the way that you believe she would have done herself were she still able to.

I understand your wish for peace of mind, of course. Decisions of the kind we're talking about are *hard* and often emotionally painful. Resuscitate or not, feeding tube or not, surgery or not - they're not choices to be wished on anyone, and wouldn't it be so much easier if you had a set of instructions to follow, signed and witnessed and ready to hand.

But. There are two serious problems with being too specific. The first is that we have no idea what is going to happen, and the clinical judgements to be made take a very complex range of factors into account; and the second problem is that how you feel when you are comparatively fit and well and writing your directive may be radically different from how you feel when you are sick and frightened and vulnerable.

Although certainty would be nice to have, there is bound to be a trade-off between certainty and freedom to act. Your mother has outlined her feelings to you, and now she is content to trust your judgement. So should you.

A POA is not really legally binding. It's more of a request than anything else. A doctor can choose to ignore it. It's useful to have but if you really want your mom's wishes will be followed, you need to have a POLST form completed. It's signed off by your doctor and is a legal medical order. They have to follow it. The POLST forms are freely available, just ask your mom's primary to sign it.

Advance directives - AKA a living will is something everyone should have. It documents what care a person wants when they can no longer articulate it. The POLST/MOLST forms are excellent because they outline what someone wants AND does not want. Though they take into consideration a normal trajectory towards an eventual death. However, if dementia becomes an issue as well then you may need address special caveats for dementia care as apart from those of other disease. Look to the web to find MOLST and POLST (They are the same thing but named differently in different states and not valid yet in some states). Also look to the Alzheimer's sites for dementia information.

There is a document, and you can get it on line, called Five Wishes this covers a lot of things and it is legal in most states. Even if it is not "legal" it will give you a good idea what she wants.
Also there is a document called a P.O.L.S.T. this is better than a DNR as it is very specific as to what medical treatment you want or don't want and the duration of a treatment if you elect one.
This takes care of a lot of things but if there is an "estate" property, a bit of money, and or other items that are of actual value it might be better to have a Will done if there are relatives, family that want "their fair share" Or at least have her put it in writing and sign it, but have her do so with other than family members present.

Fantastic advice here. From your profile, it sounds like your mother has the capability to understand and to sign documents like those that others here advised. That's great.

If you and your mother are too worn out or run out of time to actually carry out these documents, something that might help YOU is to calmly discuss circumstances with her and want she might want. Write them down. First, this is a good start for the formal paperwork she should have, and second, YOU know what she wants and can help carry it out with a clear conscience if the paperwork hasn't yet been finalized.

Lastly, you must take care of you! I understand putting your mother first, but you matter too. Plus, you can't care for your mom if you're ill or broken. {hugs}

Read the POA. My Moms read like a living will. Saying what she did and did not want. If yours doesn't read like this then u may want a living will.
I don't think you need a lawyer for this. There is probably a form on the internet for your state. In the end tough, a DNR has to be in place and signed off by a doctor. Your doctor should have the form if you want to have this in her file. A copy should be given to ambulance personnel and hospitals and facilities.

It depends what state you live in....
Go receive expert advice from an elder lawyer. It was the best thing I ever did!

All the best!

Her medical POA might address her wishes for extending her life artificially.

When you are in an emergency it is hard to feel good about decisions that do not prolong life, I personally believe it is all based on the prognosis, will I ever be able to function in a reasonable awareness with my environment, will my life be prolonged for me to die where I lay, only months down the road.

My dad was depressed and near death, the hospitalist talked to him in private and alone, came out and said he requested a DNR. When in reality he wanted full code, which means keep me alive at all costs and measures. I had no POA or anything, I couldn't change that on his chart. (Same hospitalist that said he had dementia but is willing to listen to him, just wrong)

I hope you find a good solution that gives you peace of mind at a reasonable price.

Hugs, I know these are hard conversations and decisions.

A guardianship will and does trump a POA. Do be aware that many businesses are not aware of this and want a POA.

Many banks will not honor a POA. They want a guardianship. They are harder to get, more expensive and adjudicated through the court system. It's very frustrating.

NHWM, you would never get guardianship for your mom. She is mentally competent and a judge will not take away her rights.

Guardianship is intended to protect a person that is unable to protect themselves. That is not your case at all. The only thing it would accomplish for you is more work, as a guardian you have to provide an accounting of moms money to the courts.

You can get a witness or two to sit in on a conversation with mom and you, get her to explain that she doesn't want heroic measures taken to artificially prolong her life. Type it up or hand write it, have mom and witnesses sign. You now have a legal document. You should add to the signature that she is of sound mind and understands the consequences of such a decision and she is not being influenced or under duress to create this document.

It is simple, next time she sees her PCP, give them a copy, they might even have a form they can attached attesting to her ability to execute such a document. God forbid you ever need it, have the doctors office send their copy as well as showing your own.

My living will also states that my agent has the right to bring battery charges against a doctor that refuses to honor my wishes or turn my care over to a doctor that will. That's how brutal all these heroic measures are to a body.

If you decide not to have an attorney assist you, please don't go the guardianship route. She would be destroyed and you probably wouldn't get guardianship because she is in such good mental condition.