ABA Family Legal Guide

The Rights of Older Americans

A Right to Control Your Own Affairs

Health-Care Decision-Making Issues

Which is better, a living will or a durable power of attorney for health care?

The most efficient approach is to combine the living will and the durable power of attorney for health care in one document. In most states, you can do this. However, some states have less-flexible rules for these advance directives. In these states, having both may be the preferred approach.

On its own, a living will is a very limited document because, under most state statutes, living wills apply only to terminal illness or permanent unconsciousness. They address only life-sustaining medical treatments and not other treatment decisions, and they provide fairly general instructions that may be difficult to interpret in complicated medical situations.

The durable power of attorney for health care is a more comprehensive and flexible document. It may cover any health-care decision and is not limited to terminal illness or permanent coma. More important, it authorizes someone of your choice to weigh all the facts at the time a decision needs to be made and to speak for you legally, according to any guidelines you provide.