TALLAHASSEE - Requests for a simply worded living will called "Five Wishes" have jumped tenfold in the past month, the head of the nonprofit group that distributes the document said Friday.
Aging with Dignity has gotten more than 6,000 requests in the past few weeks and has distributed at least 25,000 copies of the living will, according to Paul Malley, president of the group.
Malley attributed the surge in demand to the case of Terri Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged woman at the center of a right-to-die legal battle between her husband, her parents and the state of Florida.
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if this were Terri Schiavo's legacy, that we all take a little time to make sure our wishes are known and communicated to doctors and to lawyers so that this tragic situation is never repeated?" Malley asked.
Aging with Dignity introduced Five Wishes in Florida in 1997.
A year later it produced a national version that can be used across the country, and the group says more than 3-million copies of the will have been distributed since.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson attended the group's news conference Friday.
He said he intends to sponsor federal legislation that would require people becoming eligible for Medicare to discuss end-of-life options with a physician.
