I know I’m going to make some people mad about this but let me tell you why I think fill-in-the-blank  documents are absolutely horrible. 

      A Living Will for example, is a document that decides if you live or die. Whether you are terminal, incurable or brain death has occurred and you are being maintained by respirators, a Living Will determines whether you live or die. Why would you use a fill-in-the-blanks document for this? This document is about your life. 

     Anyone can fill in those blanks. What happens if you leave one or two of those blanks unfilled? Anyone can fill in those blank spaces. I would hate to think there would be foul play involved, but I feel there is a really good reason why you should draft sound legal documents, especially the ones that determine whether you live or die. 

     Why in the world would anyone trust their life to a haphazard fill-in-the-blanks document?

      It makes no sense to me. 

      I think people and organizations who hand out fill-in-the-legal-blanks documents, including hospitals, are opening themselves up to so much liability, it’s ridiculous. 

      I have seriously thought about this and arrived at a conclusion: There is no common sense in using a fill-in-the-blanks document that decides life or death and how it happens, and it is a terrible legal decision to do so. Hospitals hand these out like candy. It’s a bad decision for the patient andfor the hospital.

     As said earlier, some people will not agree with me, but I do this for a living and I have seen a multitude of problems with fill-in-the-blanks documents. 

      I’m Greg McIntyre of McIntyre Elder Law and we draft documents such as Living Wills. If you wish to have a professionally drafted document that may decide whether you live or die, give us a call at 704-259-7040 for the Shelby area and 704-998-5800 for Charlotte.