An advance health care directive is a document where you appoint someone else to make medical decisions for you if you’re not able to make those decisions yourself.
In a living will, it is a set of instructions to a doctor or a hospital that you do not want life prolonging medical treatment in certain situations.
Now, an advance health care directive and the person you appoint in your advance health care directive can have the authority to either accept or refuse life prolonging medical treatment on your behalf if you decide to do that.
So the living will is a standalone document where you have already decided that you do not want life prolonging medical procedures in a certain circumstance.
So that’s the difference between a living will and an advance healthcare directive. If you have additional questions about health care directives or anything else related to estate planning, please click the link on this webpage and we’d be happy to schedule a time to talk with.
