Advance Directives Registry Offers Instant Access

NEW YORK--Choice In Dying is offering a new service that electronicallystores advance directives (living wills and health care proxies).The service provides instant access to these documents with onephone call, thus avoiding the search for documents at a criticaltime, as, for example, when a patient becomes unconscious or unableto speak for himself.

Choice In Dying is a national, not-for-profit organization dedicatedto fostering communication about complex end-of-life decisionsamong individuals, their loved ones, and health care professionals,and to serving the needs of dying patients and their families.The organization invented the living will in 1967 and has distributedmore than 10 million living wills since that time.

The service, DocuDIAL Advance Directives Registry, provides awallet-sized card containing instructions for family members andhealth care providers on how to retrieve the documents by fax.The service is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Peoplecan enroll by calling 1-800-989-WILL (9455). The one-time registrationfee is $55 ($45 for members of Choice In Dying).

Applicants send photocopies of their documents, which are thenreviewed to make sure they meet the applicant's state legal requirementsand have been properly signed and witnessed. The service willnotify registrants of changes in their state laws if these occur.