The role of the living will (also known as a health care declaration or an advance directive for health care), a key document in the estate planning process, has been evolving over the last 20 years or so. Initially, its core function was to allow a client to guide his loved ones about how to handle “heroic measures” in the medical arena when faced with permanent unconsciousness or the terminal stage of a medical condition. A typical living will form allows a client to specify whether or not, under those circumstances, the following types of life-sustaining treatment should be administered:

  • Cardiac resuscitation;
  • Mechanical respiration;
  • Tube feeding or other “forced” administration of nutrition and hydration;
  • Blood or blood products;
  • Surgery or invasive diagnostic tests; or
  • Kidney dialysis.

Over time, another key component of the living will form has been to appoint one or more agents to implement the decisions for the client rather than just rely on medical providers to do so on their own. Generally, a client will name close family members, such as a spouse, children, or siblings for this role. Soon after the HIPAA privacy rules for personal health care information were implemented in 2000, another key role for the living will form was to authorize the designated agents to receive private health care information. This aspect of a living will form is regularly referred to as a “health care power of attorney.”