It documents your medical wishes — which treatments you do and don’t want — if you can’t speak for yourself, and usually pairs with a healthcare proxy naming who decides. Without one, those calls fall to family and state defaults.
An advance directive answers, in advance, the questions no family wants to guess at: which life-sustaining treatments you want, under what conditions — ventilation, resuscitation, artificial nutrition — if you’re incapacitated. The living will states your wishes; a healthcare proxy (medical power of attorney) names the person to make decisions the document doesn’t cover. Together they prevent both the agonizing uncertainty and the family conflicts that fill the vacuum otherwise. Requirements vary by state (witnessing, forms — many states publish free statutory forms), and the documents only work if they’re findable: give copies to your proxy, your doctor, and the hospital — not the safe-deposit box no one can open when it matters.
The living will states your treatment wishes; the proxy names who decides what the document doesn’t cover. Most advance directives combine both.
Usually not — most states publish free statutory forms. What matters is executing them per state rules and distributing copies where they’ll be found.
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