``All this with Terri Schiavo would not have happened if only she had a living will,'' said Hill, a college student who holds jobs at a Brandon law firm and pet store.

As she watched coverage of the legal, political and family struggle over whether Schiavo's feeding tube should be restored, she bristled and fretted that the same could happen to anyone unless they documented their wishes. The Brandon resident found a living will online, confirmed with lawyers at work that it was legally sound and started handing out copies.

Reaction has been mixed, but most people welcome her overtures, Hill said.

``The first person at the pet store took five copies for their family,'' she said.

Schiavo's case and the ensuing pitched battle among political, legal and medical forces has triggered a sudden rush of interest in living wills. The documents establish measures that doctors and family members should or should not take if the signer becomes incapacitated or needs medical life support to survive.

Many seeking living wills say they never gave them a second thought until the Schiavo case riveted the nation.

Hospital administrators, doctors and online legal publishers say they never have seen such strong interest in living wills. Many of those rushing to set up living wills are young and healthy, rather than the elderly or critically ill, experts say. Schiavo was 26 when she suffered heart failure.

``Prior to Terri Schiavo, we would give people the information packet and you'd see people throw it in the trash on the way out the door,'' said Jim Jones, director of case management at University Community Hospital in Tampa.

``Now, we've seen this tremendous increase in interest, people coming in saying `I don't have a living will,' '' Jones said.

Even physicians have popped in his office for a living will form.

Former patients at the hospital also are asking for living will forms, and some have requested overnight shipping, Jones said.

Patients Eager To Tackle Topic

In the past, administrators at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa rarely heard patients at the front desk ask for living wills.

``But now they come right out and ask for it,'' said Miriam Bell, manager of patient relations and patient education. ``That's definitely different, and I attribute it to the Schiavo case.''

Judie Glenn of St. Petersburg said the Schiavo case got her moving quickly on setting up a living will. With oral surgery scheduled today, she made sure she filled out a living will Wednesday, just in case.

``If you do not have this in writing, your wishes might not be granted,'' she said.

Hospital workers also are rushing to set up living wills.

``Terri Schiavo is 41. I'm 42 ... It can happen,'' said Melodie Howerton, a New Tampa resident and data analyst at University Community Hospital.

Watching TV news coverage of Schiavo, she is reminded of her mother's struggle with cancer 20 years ago.

``We didn't think she would want to be kept alive artificially,'' Howerton said. ``But we had an aunt who went ballistic on us about that. You need to make the decision yourself and not put your family in that position.''

James Herzog, communications director for Aging With Dignity, a nonprofit organization in Tallahassee, said the Schiavo case has spurred huge interest in a $5 living will package the group offers. Orders have skyrocketed to more than 3,000 a day from the customary 100. ``More and more of the calls now are coming from younger people who have heard of the Schiavo case and how heartbreaking it is and don't want that same thing to happen to their family,'' Herzog said. ``We've had to call in extra volunteers. The phone lines keep lighting up, and the Internet orders keep coming in.''

John Spallino, a physician in Tampa, says he never has seen such high interest in living wills among his patients.

``Four or five patients today alone were asking about the Schiavo case,'' Spallino said.

The dramatic legal and political battle over Schiavo has prompted interest in living wills elsewhere in the nation.

Kyle Christensen, a spokesman for Thomson Financial, a business information company that operates the FindLaw.com Web site. said Internet traffic to the company's information on living wills has spiked in the past few weeks. More than 5,000 visitors have followed a link that helps locate local lawyers by specialty.

Form Might Not Be Enough

FindLaw commissioned a study in February that found only 36 percent of respondents had living wills.

Thinking and talking about a living will is a good start, local lawyers say. But too often people think living wills are a complete solution, said James Eggert, a Tampa lawyer who specializes in trusts, wills and estates.

``A lot of people seem to think this is like a black box, that you fill it out and that means they won't end up like Terri Schiavo,'' Eggert said. But when he starts asking clients about various medical scenarios, clients realize a detailed living will can be a very complex document.

Florida law, Eggert said, describes three major criteria governing living wills: persistent vegetative state, end stage condition and terminal condition.

For example, Eggert said, a person may have Alzheimer's that a doctor diagnoses as end stage, meaning there is no reasonable chance of recovery. But in the meantime, they may contract pneumonia, which is treatable.

``Do you let that pneumonia run its course and maybe you survive it and maybe you don't, because you're in an end stage?'' Eggert said.

There isn't any standard form that will answer all the possible questions that could arise as medicine advances, he stressed. People should consider naming a health care surrogate - a trusted and objective person who would make medical decisions for them if they become incapacitated.

Doing so in writing decreases the chances that there will be a major dispute if the living will is challenged in court. The more precise, descriptive and current the language in the document, the better, Eggert said.

The Rev. William Baugh, director of the pastoral practice group at Tampa General Hospital, said the Schiavo case appears to be stirring people to address a difficult issue.

Typically, Baugh said, his office might handle requests for three or four living wills a day. Now they are fielding 20 a day.

``For me, if anything good comes of Terri Schiavo's situation, hopefully it's that people are talking about this.''

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919.