Patientenverfügung

In the living will, you can decide in advance whether and how medical measures should be taken.

The living will gives you the opportunity to declare whether you want a certain type of treatment, in particular sufficient pain relief, or the use of life-prolonging measures in certain, more or less specifically named illness or accident situations.

Today, intensive care treatment methods offer the possibility of prolonging life even if there is no reasonable prospect of recovery. In these cases, the doctor can, under certain conditions, dispense with further measures that may still be technically possible, such as ventilation or artificial nutrition, if this is in accordance with the patient's wishes.

In this situation, a living will enables the attending physician to determine the patient's wishes even if the patient is no longer capable of forming a will or can no longer express themselves. This provides the attending physician with a decision-making aid regarding the type of further treatment. Even if the doctor has to assess the individual case in each situation, he must take the living will into account as an effective expression of will.

Living wills are only effective if they are in writing and signed by the person making them by signing their name or by a notarized signature (a notarized signature or notarization of the living will is not mandatory).

Further information can also be found on the websites of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV), the state government of Schleswig-Holstein and the German Medical Association.

A medical consultation is recommended.

You can download a sample living will from the website of the Schleswig-Holstein Medical Association.