What is a living will, and how is it different from a regular will?

A living will, also called an advance directive, records what medical treatment you would want if you become unable to communicate: resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, artificial nutrition and hydration, dialysis, and comfort care preferences. It takes effect while you are alive and incapacitated and has no role after death. A last will and testament does the opposite, taking effect only at death to distribute property, name an executor, and designate guardians for minor children. Conflating the two is common and leaves people with one document doing half the job.

A living will works best paired with a healthcare power of attorney naming a person to make decisions the document did not anticipate. No directive can enumerate every clinical situation, and physicians frequently face circumstances the form does not address, so a named agent who understands your values fills the gap. Together these are often called an advance healthcare directive. Without either, decisions fall to a statutory hierarchy of relatives that may not match who you would choose, and disagreements among family can end up in court at the worst possible time.

Practical execution details determine whether it works. Signing requirements vary by state, commonly requiring witnesses or notarization, and a document valid in one state is usually but not always honored in another, so re-executing after a move is prudent. A document in a safe deposit box is useless, so give copies to your named agent, your physician, and the hospital, and carry a wallet card noting where it is. A separate document, the POLST or MOLST, is a physician-signed medical order for people with serious illness that emergency personnel can act on immediately, which a living will alone does not accomplish. And revisit these after any major diagnosis, divorce, or death of a named agent, since an outdated directive naming an unavailable person creates the delay it was written to prevent.