in my state, its MANDATED that you ask the patient if he has a living will or similar, there is no requiremnt that he have one nor is it required that he sign up "quick"......
maybe you have heard of families suing because daddy or mommy was resuscitated even though there was a "living will" at home in the safe deposit box.....
the lawyers and the courts have made it impossible .....
Geez....we have one state that voted to allow people to commit suicide by doctor, and we have families mad because dad's living will was fulfilled and mad when dad's living will was not fulfilled.......
there is no way to do the "right" thing in today's climate....
That's why I'm saying living wills are far more dangerous than they are helpful. They cloud the issues more than they solve them.
My family is lucky that Dad showed us from his own example. He was totally against them. Whether it was mandated or not isn't the issue about the health care workers asking him. They positively harassed him about them. I'm not suggesting that this happens every time, but when my Dad was adament, he meant what he said, and those people just didn't get it.
I'm sorry if this offends you, but that's the way it was for us.