Living Will - Lawyer in Naperville and Schaumburg

In addition to naming an agent under a Power of Attorney for Health Care, you may also want to sign a Living Will. A Living Will is a written statement that gives you the right to stop or not begin medical treatment delaying your death in situations where you aren’t able to state your wishes. Your Living Will is utilized when you have been diagnosed with a terminal condition and you do not have an agent who is available to make a decision to continue medical treatment delaying your death. The law defines a “terminal condition” as an incurable or irreversible condition where death is imminent and where the use of death-delaying procedures serves only to prolong the dying process.

HOW A LIVING WILL DIFFERS FROM POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR HEALTH CARE
Even though a Power of Attorney for Health Care and a Living Will apply to similar situations, a Living Will is very different. You do not name an agent in a Living Will. Instead you indicate your wishes about death-delaying procedures that your physician can rely upon in certain specific situations. For example, your Living Will may dictate that you should not receive cardiac resuscitation or blood transfusions. A Living Will applies only if you have a “terminal condition” which is determined by your doctor. A Living Will does not permit your doctor to stop water and tube feeding if their withdrawal would be the only cause of your death.
You may want to refuse medical treatment in a state other than Illinois that will not enforce your Power of Attorney for Health Care, but may enforce your Living Will. A Living Will, therefore, increases the chances that your wishes will be followed in the event you have a medical emergency in another state.