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Living Wills

A Living Will Lets You Answer the Hardest Medical Questions Before You're Asked Them

Living Wills

A living will is a written statement of your own wishes regarding specific medical treatments — most often, life-sustaining measures such as mechanical ventilation, artificial nutrition and hydration, and resuscitation — in the event you become permanently unconscious or are diagnosed with a terminal condition and cannot communicate your preferences yourself.

Unlike a healthcare power of attorney, which names a person to decide on your behalf, a living will states your own decisions directly, in your own words, made while you still have full capacity to consider them. It applies in a narrower set of circumstances than a healthcare power of attorney — typically end-stage or permanent-unconsciousness scenarios specifically defined in Pennsylvania law — but within that scope, it removes ambiguity at exactly the moment ambiguity is hardest for a family to resolve.

FAMILY BENEFIT

Why Families Benefit as Much as You Do

The value of a living will isn’t only that it honors your wishes — it’s that it relieves the people who love you of having to guess, and often disagree, about what you would have wanted at the worst possible moment. We regularly see families fracture over exactly this question when no document exists: one adult child insists a parent would never want to be kept alive on a ventilator indefinitely, another insists the opposite, and the disagreement plays out in a hospital hallway rather than in a calm planning conversation years earlier. A living will settles the question in advance, in your own voice.

LIVING WILL

What a Living Will Typically Addresses

  •  Whether you want mechanical ventilation if you cannot breathe independently
  •  Whether you want artificial nutrition and hydration (feeding tubes) if you cannot eat or drink
  •  Whether you want cardiopulmonary resuscitation attempted if your heart stops
  •  Whether you want dialysis if your kidneys fail
  •  General instructions about comfort care and pain management, regardless of your other choices

COVER

What It Does Not Cover

LIVING WILL

A living will is not a general substitute for a healthcare power of attorney. It applies to the specific circumstances it defines — usually permanent unconsciousness or a terminal diagnosis — and says nothing about the countless other medical decisions that might arise in a serious but non-terminal illness or injury.

HEALTHCARE POWER OF ATTORNEY

This is why we draft living wills and healthcare powers of attorney together as companion documents: the living will answers the narrow, defined questions it's built for, and the healthcare agent handles everything else.

DOCUMENT ACCESS

Making Sure It's Followed

A living will only functions if it can be found and acted on quickly. Provide copies to your healthcare agent, your primary physician, and any hospital system where you regularly receive care, and revisit the document any time your health circumstances or personal values change.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a living will the same as a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order?
No. A DNR is a specific medical order, typically issued by a physician and placed directly in your medical chart, often based on the wishes you’ve expressed in a living will. The living will is the broader planning document; a DNR is one possible medical instruction that can flow from it.
Can I change my living will after signing it?
Yes, at any time while you have capacity. We recommend revisiting it after a major health diagnosis or any shift in how you think about end-of-life care.
Does a living will mean doctors will withhold all treatment?
No. A living will typically applies only to specifically defined end-of-life circumstances; it doesn’t affect the treatment you receive for unrelated or non-terminal conditions.
Do I need both a living will and a healthcare power of attorney?
In almost every case, yes. The living will states your wishes for a narrow set of defined circumstances; the healthcare power of attorney names someone to handle everything else a living will doesn’t reach.
What if my family disagrees with my living will?

A validly executed living will generally controls over a family member’s objection, which is precisely why having one — in your own words, signed while you had full capacity — prevents disputes rather than causing them.

A WORD ON DIY WILLS

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Related Pages

Explore related resources to better understand your estate planning options.

Healthcare Directives
Powers of Attorney
Wills
Revocable Trusts
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