Health & Benefits

A Living Will says whether you want life-sustaining treatment that could delay your death when you have a terminal illness. Terminally ill or injured means no medical care will keep you from dying.

You can make a Living Will for yourself if you:

• Are 18 years old or older, or an emancipated minor,
• Are of sound mind,
• Are an Illinois resident, and
• Sign the Living Will, or, if you are unable to sign, you can ask someone to sign for you in your presence. The signer cannot be your healthcare provider or someone who can inherit from you.

Two adults have to witness and sign the Living Will. A witness can't be directly financially responsible for your medical care and can't inherit property from you when you die. For example, your child can't be a witness if they will receive money or property from you if you die. Also, your doctor or other healthcare provider can't be a witness because they will give you medical care if you are sick.

Illinois will follow a Living Will that was correctly created in a different state. You might also want to consider getting the Living Will notarized. While Illinois does not require a Living Will to be notarized, some states require a document to be both witnessed and notarized to be valid. When a notary signs your Living Will, it proves to everyone else that you signed it. It is more likely that another state will follow your Living Will if you sign it in front of two witnesses and a notary.

Electronic signatures are allowed in documents that create, exercise, release, or revoke a Living Will. A notary or witness must be "electronically present" to electronically sign. Electronic presence could be over a video service like Zoom.

Your Living Will is only used if all 3 of the following are true:

• You have been diagnosed with a terminal condition,
• Your doctor confirms that you have a terminal condition in writing in your medical record, and
• You can't tell the doctor what you want and don't have an agent named in a power of attorney who is available to decide to delay your death.

Your Living Will is not used if any one of the following is true:

• You don't have a terminal condition,
• You can tell the doctor what you want,
• You have an agent named in a power of attorney who is available to make the decisions for you, or
• You are pregnant, and the doctor determines that your fetus could live.

Your Living Will is only used if you can't tell your doctor that you do not want medical care that will only make you live longer, but won't heal you. For example, you might be in a coma, and there is no medical care that will wake you up or keep you from dying. In that case, your Living Will tells your doctors not to give you any medical care that only lets you live longer before you die.

Examples of medical care that might not heal you include:

• Chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery for cancer,
• Electroconvulsive therapy,
• Cardiac resuscitation,
• Blood transfusions,
• Artificial maintenance of metabolic rates,
• Respirators,
• Artificial kidney treatments,
• Amputation, and
• Artificial maintenance of blood pressure.

Even if you sign a Living Will, your doctor can give you care that would keep you comfortable, such as pain medication. Also, your doctor can't withhold food and water if that would cause your death by itself.

If you are an organ donor and have a Living Will, your doctor can still give you care to protect your organs. For example, doctors can use a ventilator to make sure your organs receive oxygen after you are declared brain dead in order to preserve your organs for transplant. This can only happen if you are a registered donor and your doctors know it is your intent to donate your organs.

A Power of Attorney for Health Care allows you to choose an individual, called an "agent." An agent makes medical decisions on your behalf. Agents are used when a physician indicates in writing that you are incapable of making your own medical decisions.

A Living Will is a statement of your wishes regarding life-sustaining measures when you have a terminal condition. A Living Will only applies if you have a terminal condition, unlike a Power of Attorney for Health Care. 

You can have both a Power of Attorney for Health Care and a Living Will.

You appoint an agent under the Power of Attorney for Health Care to work with your doctors to make sure your wishes are followed. Your agent will make all decisions about your medical care as you have specified. You can revoke your Power of Attorney for Health Care if you change your mind.

If your agent is not available, your doctor will follow the wishes you have indicated in your Living Will regarding a terminal condition. 

Your agent does not have to follow the directions in your Living Will if they believe not doing so is in your best interests.

POLST stands for "Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment." The POLST is an updated version of a Do Not Resuscitate Order. It is a medical order signed by a patient and their doctor or other healthcare provider.

Doctors normally give you CPR when you stop breathing or your heart stops. A POLST allows you to reject life-sustaining treatment options, such as CPR, a ventilator, or a feeding tube. Often, the POLST form is most helpful for people who want to decline resuscitation and who are already seriously ill.

A POLST is not meant to be a substitute for a Living Will. A Living Will is a statement saying that you do not want “death-delaying procedures” if you are terminally ill. If you are seriously ill or medically frail, you may want to have both a Living Will and a POLST. 

Yes, a Living Will is different from a Last Will and Testament. A Living Will says whether you want life-sustaining treatment when you have a terminal illness. A Last Will and Testament or “will” says what is to be done with your property after you die. 

It is very easy to revoke or end your Living Will. You can end your Living Will no matter what your mental or physical condition is at the time you revoke it. You can revoke your Living Will at any time.

There are many ways to revoke a Living Will, including:

• Damaging or destroying it by: 

  • Tearing, 

  • Burning, or 

  • Marking through the words in a way that shows an intent to cancel the Living Will, such as by making it unreadable. 

• Telling someone over the age of 18 that you wish to revoke it. That person can then sign a document that says you told them you wanted to revoke your Living Will. 

• Having a person over the age of 18 write down your wish to revoke the Living Will while they are in your presence. 

• Telling your doctor that you wish to revoke your Living Will. Your doctor is then required to note this in your medical records so that anyone involved in your care knows that the Living Will has been revoked.

Additionally, you can revoke your Living Will by creating a "codicil," which is a document that you need to sign and date. The codicil should say that you want to revoke your Living Will. You can also create an entirely new Living Will that says that it revokes any previous Living Wills. If you choose either of these options, you need to make sure that all of your healthcare providers and family members know about the codicil or new Living Will.