Living Wills vs. Health Care Powers of Attorney: What's the Difference?

During the estate planning process, clients often ask, “What’s the difference between a living will and a health care power of attorney?” Although both documents express your wishes about your health care decisions, there are some important legal distinctions between the two.

A health care power of attorney grants someone else (such as a spouse or sibling) the authority to make health care decisions for you in the event that you cannot make those decisions. For example, if a patient is unconscious and cannot consent to a surgery, the patient’s agent can consent on behalf of that patient. The agent can only act if the patient cannot and must make decisions consistent with the desires of the patient.

In contrast, a living will is much more limited. It typically permits physicians to withdraw life-sustaining treatment if a patient is in a terminal or permanently unconscious condition and cannot make informed medical decisions. The living will expresses the patient’s wishes directly, rather than allowing someone else to make the decision for the patient.

These types of documents - which are separate from a will - are sometimes called advanced directives. Similar to organ donation forms or final arrangement documents, health care advanced directives are particularly important to complete because they can help avoid family conflicts about a patient’s wishes.

Please contact our office today if we can help review, update, or execute your advanced directives.