by Amanda Roberts

Created on: October 18, 2009   Last Updated: October 19, 2009

My dad was unconscious for six days. It was touch and go, and we have no idea what was going to happen to him. I was distraught, my mother was inconsolable, and the rest of our family just wandered around in shock. He is only forty-four, so no one saw this coming. Although no one wanted to say it, we all knew that there was a possibility that he wouldn't make it out of the hospital alive. The situation was unbelievably scary, but the only thing that made it easier was knowing that dad had already thought everything out for us. He had a living will along with a traditional will. He also had medical surrogates in place, so that the right person made his medical decisions. He also had incredibly detailed instructions about how we should handle his death. Knowing that, if anything happened to him we wouldn't have to make any decisions, made everything easier.

Now, my father is in recovery. While we didn't need to use his plan, I have never been more thankful for a set of papers in my life.

1. Medical Surrogacy: A medical surrogate is the person who will make your health decisions if you should be deemed incompetent to make your own decisions (unconscious or otherwise compromised).

Normally, this obligation would fall to your spouse or one of your children, but if you would like to specify who makes the decisions this paperwork is incredibly important. For example, in my father's surrogacy paperwork he specified that my mother and I should make his medical decisions. He did this for two reasons, the first was so no one else in the family could challenge our decisions, the second was to protect my grandparents and younger brother from feeling the need to get involved in treatment decisions. This paperwork will assure that you have consistency in your medical decisions and that you will not run the risk of a family feud.

2. Living Will: This piece of paper specifies what type of life saving measures you want to be used in the event that your health takes a serious decline. This will help to give your medical surrogate an additional leg to stand on when it comes time to make your medical decisions. This is also a way to assure that you are not indefinitely receiving care you do not want. Some examples can be found here.

3. Consent to Organ Donation: After you die, your organs could be used to save many people. You can donate your internal organs, your eyes, and your skin following your death.

Some families have a problem donating their loved one's organs, and some

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