Aging with Dignity of Tallahassee, FL, has produced a tremendously helpful document called Five Wishes that helps users think through the answers to key questions Living Wills are meant to answer, questions having to do with

1. The person you want to make care decisions for you when you are unable.
    
2. The kind of medical treatment you will want . . . or don’t want when in extremis (near death).
    
3. How comfortable you want to be when in extremis.
    
4. How you will want people to treat you when in extremis.
    
5. What you want your loved ones to know with respect to you wishes at–and after–death.

Aging with Dignity says,

If you live in the District of Columbia or one of the 40 states listed below, you can use Five Wishes and have the peace of mind to know that it substantially meets your state’s requirements under the law:

Alaska	Idaho	Missouri	Rhode Island
Arizona	Illinois	Montana	South Carolina
Arkansas	Iowa	Nebraska	South Dakota
California	Louisiana	New Jersey	Tennessee
Colorado	Maine	New Mexico	Vermont
Connecticut	Maryland	New York	Virginia
Delaware	Massachusetts	North Carolina	Washington
Florida	Michigan	North Dakota	West Virginia
Georgia	Minnesota	Oklahoma	Wisconsin
Hawaii	Mississippi	Pennsylvania	Wyoming

If your state is not one of the 40 states listed here, Five Wishes does not meet the technical requirements in the statutes of your state. . . . However, many people from states not on this list do complete Five Wishes along with their state’s legal form. They find that Five Wishes helps them express all that they want and provides a helpful guide to family members, friends, caregivers and doctors. Most doctors and health care professionals know they need to listen to your wishes no matter how you express them.*

The link above will lead you to a non-printing version of the document. I think you will be as impressed as I am with its breadth and depth.

To order copies of Five Steps itself, or of an educational video or the Next Steps guidebook, go to the Aging with Dignity Order Page. Five Steps is available in English, Spanish, and 22 different bilingual versions (including Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Croatian, French, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Hmong, Ilocano, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Urdu, and Vietnamese).

The Bilingual versions are

20-page documents [that] provide the original English text on each opposing page. A non-English-speaking person can read the document and make choices in his or her native language. The English text[, then,] is provided to help English-speaking health care providers understand what the individual has chosen. These bilingual Five Wishes are executable, which means [once it] is filled out, signed, and witnessed, . . . it is a valid advance directive in 40 states.

Check it out . . . for yourself, your loved ones, your friends, . . . maybe even your co-workers. (Aging with Dignity says “many workplaces are offering Five Wishes as an employee benefit.” In bulk, it is all of $1 per person. But a great way to meet some real needs.)

–Thanks to Leanna Hamill of Massachusetts Estate Planning and Elder Law for bringing this to my attention!

* Please notice the specific additional information about additional requirements demanded of residents in 10 of the 40 states where Five Wishes meets legal requirements.

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