living will

Definition / meaning of living will

A type of legal advance directive in which a person describes specific treatment guidelines that are to be followed by health care providers if he or she becomes terminally ill and cannot communicate. A living will usually has instructions about whether to use aggressive medical treatment to keep a person alive (such as CPR, artificial nutrition, use of a respirator).

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Find More About 'living will'

Source(s):

The Web site of the National Cancer Institute (http://www.cancer.gov/)

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