Living wills and advance medical directives aren’t just for old or sick people; they are a plan for everyone, even the seemingly invincible college student.

Ohio lawyers and health care providers are bringing “Plan Ahead – Health Care Decisions Week ’05” to Ohio libraries this week. They aim to educate people interested in advance directives, such as living wills.

Toledo Public Library at the main and Holland branches are providing information, and attorneys are available for service and questions all of this week for anyone who is interested.

“College-age adults need to at least have a health care durable power of attorney,” said Jeff Lycan, president of Ohio Hospice and Palliative Care.

Interest in living wills and other advance directives was birthed out of the Terry Schiavo controversy earlier this year. The brain-damaged Schiavo was removed from her artificial feeding tube after a bitter controversy between her husband and parents.

The case involved numerous courts and the U.S. Congress before she finally died of starvation on March 31, 2005.

Since the Schiavo case, Lycan said, “We’ve seen about almost a 10-fold increase in living wills and health care power of attorney documents.”

So-called “death with dignity issues”, ranging from living wills to health-care power of attorney to physician-assisted suicide, are becoming a part of the national and state conversation.

For years, abortion rights and the question of when life begins have been argued. Now, as the American population ages, new questions are being asked about when life does or should end.

“With the baby boomer generation we see more interest in end of life care from a younger generation as they are caring for aging parents,” Lycan said. “We still have a lot to do in educating the younger generation.”

Anyone over the age of 18 should have a health-care power of attorney because it allows one to appoint someone to make medical decisions for them if they become unable to do it themselves. A living will is different in that it is a pre-written statement of one’s wishes for the use or withholding of life-sustaining treatments if they become unable to communicate them.

Lycan said that if a young adult had a medical emergency their parents may not be able to make appropriate medical decisions immediately.

“If a person was in a car accident, they wouldn’t be notified until they determined that was the person they should be speaking to. That could take a couple of days,” said Lycan.

Most college students either don’t know that they need plan for emergency situations, or they just don’t want to think about it.

“I try not to think about it,” said sophomore Emily Berens about what would happen if she were in an accident. “I would leave it up to my parents.”

But since she is 19, if her parents were not appointed her health-care power of attorneys, then they may not be able to make immediate medical decisions for her.

At Wood County Hospital doctors and nurses are making a better effort to inform patients of the importance of advance directives, according to Linda Benner Adcock, respiratory care director.

“People need to remember to inform their families and their physicians about advance directives. Don’t keep it a big secret,” she said.

When an adult does not make advance directive plans, and they become unable to communicate their medical wishes, it opens the doors to controversy and family strife.

Politicians in Ohio immediately reacted to Schiavo’s death by drafting proposed legislation attempting to safeguard Ohioans and their families from end of life controversies.

State Representative Robert Latta, a University graduate, said, “When you look at the situation, the bills came from the Terry Schiavo matter. The question is whether the Ohio law and the Florida law have holes in them.”

Latta co-sponsored the bill that would provide that a patient who is in a permanently unconscious state could not be denied nutrition or hydration if any parent guardian, spouse, adult children, parents or grandparents object. Latta chairs the Criminal Justice Committee that heard the bills and said they are now inactive.

“The problem with the bills is that there is a concern that the person has a right to die,” he said.

Lycan and Ohio Hospice and Palliative Care did not support the proposed legislation.

“They are trying to get rid of conflict, but this bill doesn’t look at the needs of the individual,” he said. “It disregards any of the past health care tests and expertise of the health care providers.”

Despite the reactionary nature of the bills and the objections to it, some still feel that changes in Ohio law should be made.

For now, the consensus advice from Latta, attorneys and health care providers is that everyone, regardless of age, should communicate their medical wishes with advance directives.

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