We all crave simplicity, don't we? I know I do, and I know I sometimes get frustrated when things seem complicated just for the sake of being complicated. But I also recognize that, sometimes, things are complicated because that's the way life is.
The Five Wishes advance directive is an attempt to simplify matters, by allowing a person to dictate "how you want to be treated if you get seriously ill and unable to speak for yourself." It's a do-it-yourself document, one not written in legalese. But, as Ray J. Koenig III and MacKenzie Hyde make clear in their article in this month's Illinois Bar Journal (to be found here), users of the Five Wishes need to be careful what they wish for.
Some of the problems addressed in the article:
-Five Wishes creates ambiguity, as it doesn't define important terms like "health care professional"
