[supercat]

A document beats "she said" even though neither one is utterly bulletproof.

Suppose Terri had left a notarized "want-to-live" document with her parents, but Schiavo claimed that she had told him she changed her mind. If Greer found such testimony constuted "clear and compelling" evidence that she wanted to die, would any appeals court be able to change that?

[The Red Zone]

In Florida such a tragedy would be possible. Another matter would be the loss of the document or of later revisions. I don't know how that could be addressed; someone has to be trusted somehow when one is unable to communicate. In the meantime, maybe carrying around a "want to live" document in one's wallet (on fireproof media) would be in order.