SURVEY: Do you have a living will?
I’ve put together a survey for you and anyone else who may be interested. The topic is living wills and advance directives. I am looking for information that tells me how many people have living wills, who doesn’t and what may be holding back people from drawing one up.
I invite you to complete the short survey and to share it with as many people as you’d like - the more responses we get, the better. I’m going to gather the information together to see if we can get a good idea of who knows what about living wills and what more information needs to get “out there.” This information will be used for future articles and guest writers.
The survey can be found here: Living wills and advance directives.
Thank you all to everyone who participates!
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Can you help spread the word about the survey?
Here are some social networking links where you can help drive awareness by clicking on them:
Filed in End of life issues 8 Comments so far
Jennifer Margulis on 29 Dec 2008 at 10:58 pm #
I don’t have a living will or any advanced directives. I am married and am 39 years old, not sure if I need one. I am my mom’s health care proxy, I think this is the same thing? Forgive me for not completing the survey, as I think I would be answering “no,” or “don’t know,” after every question…
Marijke on 30 Dec 2008 at 7:54 am #
Oh but Jennifer, you’d be perfect to do the questionnaire! I need to know why people don’t have one.
A health care proxy isn’t the same thing as a living will, however. That puts you charge of making her decisions.
I hope you reconsider your partipation in the survey - I really need exactly that type of input, as well as that from those who do have living wills.
Marijke
Florida Living Will » Blog Archive » Create a living will on 30 Dec 2008 at 10:46 am #
[...] Living Will News… [...]
Maggie Chicoine on 31 Dec 2008 at 8:53 am #
I will forever be grateful to my parents for sitting me down at the kitchen table to talk about “plans”. We discussed a variety of circumstances about their health situations, some options, choices… what do we do when? conversations. When do we say DNR? Who makes decisions? What’s the status of funeral arrangements? It was such an interesting afternoon!
So when the time came, my choices were clear, even though some of the circumstances could not be anticipated. I did not know, for example, that mom’s pacemaker could not be turned off, and so she lingered for an additional week in the hospital because of this “artificial” means which kept her heart beating while the remainder of her organs had given up.
I highly recommend that every family talks about their wishes, for themselves as well as their children, so that the “celebration” of their lives is not hindered by doubt, guilt or burden.
This year, we have lost 4 of our elders, and my mother was the only one who had been proactive in her wishes. My husband and I have already mentioned to our daughters how important it is to talk about life in its most fragile moments.
Thank you for spreading the word through your survey!
Best wishes for 2009,
Maggie Chicoine
Cathryn Peters on 01 Jan 2009 at 10:15 pm #
I just took the survey and noticed a problem with one of the questions regarding the state of my health. I wanted to report that I’m in good health, without any significant problems or issues in the past, but the OTHER button was not functioning and none of the visible answers were appropriate for me. The blank field was there to fill out, but there was no radio button itself to make the selection for OTHER.
Marijke on 01 Jan 2009 at 10:25 pm #
Hi Cathryn. I apologize for that problem. Unfortunately, it’s a glitch in the survey that I can’t correct now that it’s been started. But, I will definitely keep that in mind when I tabulate the responses. If there are too many issues with that question, I’ll put that with an asterix and an explanation.
Thanks so much for taking the survey. I do appreciate it.
Marijke
The D-Word | Seniors For Living on 20 Jan 2009 at 9:34 am #
[...] to discuss the “undiscussable.” She is currently seeking responses to a survey on her Seniors Support website to find out just how many people actually have a living will or advanced directives - visit [...]
SeniorLawSeries on 21 Jun 2010 at 8:29 pm #
The Living Will and the Advane Directive are the two most important documents for any grownup to have. You never know when you will fall into the stage of illness or disability. Thank you so much for creating this survey and spreading the word!