As many as 75 percent of adults in the U.S. have not prepared written directives for their families to follow in the event they become medically incapacitated, experts say.

But the plight of Terri Schiavo, the brain damaged Florida woman who died Thursday, 14 days after her feeding tube was removed, sparked a new discussion of living wills and other end-of-life issues.

Click Here For Information About Living Wills From Texas Health Resources

The Advance Directives Act was signed into law in Texas in 1999 by then-Governor George W. Bush.

Click Here For Advance Directive Form From Texas Attorney Generals Office

The act allows for a patient's surrogate to make end-of-life decisions and spells out how to proceed if a hospital or other health provider disagrees with a decision to maintain or halt life-sustaining treatment.

If a doctor refuses to honor a decision, the case goes before a medical committee.

If the committee agrees with the doctor, the guardian or surrogate has ten days to agree or seek treatment elsewhere.

A Tallahassee-based agency, Aging with Dignity, has created a living will known as the “Five Wishes,” and has been flooded with orders for the document as the Schiavo case began to make headlines.

Click Here For Information on Living Wills From Aging With Dignity

The group is sending out more than 2,000 living wills a day and has distributed 1 million copies since the legal fight over Schiavo’s fate burst into the headlines in October 2003.

"We get requests saying, 'We have seen what happened in the Schiavo case and above all, we don't want to see that same tragedy repeat itself in our family,'" Malley said.

Five Wishes does not meet legal requirements in Texas, the organization says, but may be useful as an attachment.

Under Texas law, the Texas Bar Association says, any competent adult may sign a directive or living will instructing physicians to withhold or withdraw artificial life support in the event of a terminal or irreversible condition.

Click Here For Information About Living Wills From The Texas Bar Assocation

The law requires the directive be in writing, signed by the patient and witnessed by two competent adults, one of whom is not related to the patient or involved in treatment decisions.

Click Here For Advance Directive Form From Texas Attorney Generals Office