mermaid33:

The only anecdotal information I have is about my late father-in-law. As he lay in the hospital in a coma, in need of a blood transfusion a group of people from the JW church arrived with papers in hand that he'd signed ten years prior, unbeknownst to my m-i-l, and stood in between her and hospital administration. He died.

I'm terribly sorry about your late FIL. That sounds horrifying. But up til about 2 years ago, we had to get our legal cards updated EVERY YEAR to be valid (now we use DPA's). Hard to imagine a hospital would cave into out-of-date papers unless your FIL was conscious and able to refuse.

Terribly sorry for your family's loss, though.