Living will vs advance directive

A living will states your wishes about medical treatment when you cannot speak for yourself, usually when you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious. It can address life-sustaining treatment, CPR, a feeding tube, pain relief and organ donation.

It is a statement, not an appointment. A living will does not name the person who will talk to the doctors. If the document only records wishes, someone still has to apply them, and that person is named in a health care proxy or medical power of attorney.

A living will means a written statement of the medical treatment a person wants, or does not want, in a situation where that person can no longer speak. The name is misleading: it has nothing to do with distributing property, and it is not the same document as a last will and testament.

The phrase is also used loosely. A hospital may hand you a form titled living will that includes a health care proxy, and a state may call its version an advance directive or a directive to physicians. Read the sections rather than the title, and check which signature rule the form follows.

An advance directive is the umbrella term for written instructions about future medical care. Depending on the state, it can include a living will, a health care proxy, a mental health directive, a do-not-resuscitate order, or a combination.

California uses one form called an advance health care directive that combines the living will and the agent appointment. Florida uses a living will and a separate designation of health care surrogate. New York uses a health care proxy and a living will that often travel together. The labels differ; the two jobs do not.

Most adults benefit from both jobs being covered, whether they appear in one document or two. The instructions tell your family what you want. The appointment gives one person the authority to act when a doctor asks a question the instructions did not anticipate.

If you can only sign one document right now, a medical power of attorney is often the more useful one because it creates a decision maker. Add the living will as soon as you can. The two are designed to work together, and hospitals are used to seeing both.

Most states require two adult witnesses and do not require a notary. Some states accept a notary instead of witnesses, and a few require both. The witnesses usually cannot be the agent, a person who inherits from you, or a treating health care provider.

The builder prints the rule for your state, with the statute or the state's own form, and adds the right witness or notary block. Every rule cites its source.

A directive in a locked drawer that nobody knows about cannot guide care. Give copies to your agent, your doctor and the hospital you use. Keep a photo on your phone. Tell a family member where the original is.

Review the document after a serious diagnosis, a move to another state, a divorce, or a change in who you trust. Sign a new document and revoke the old one rather than editing by hand.