Living Wills

A living will is a written statement of the medical treatment you do and do not want if you become seriously ill or injured and cannot speak for yourself. It typically addresses life-sustaining treatment such as resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, dialysis, and artificial nutrition and hydration, along with your wishes for pain relief and comfort care.

Fisher Stone prepares living wills for individuals and families throughout New York City for a flat fee, quoted up front after a short, free consultation of about 15 minutes. A real, licensed New York attorney handles your living will from start to finish, reachable directly by call, email, or text, with no call center and no handoff partway through.

Living wills in New York

A living will is one part of advance directive planning, and New York’s approach to it is straightforward once explained. New York does not have a living will statute. Unlike many other states, it has never passed a law creating an official living will form. A living will still carries real weight here. New York’s highest court has held that a person’s wishes about life-sustaining treatment should be honored once they are proven by clear and convincing evidence, a demanding standard. A written living will, signed while you can express your wishes clearly, is the strongest way to create that kind of evidence. Courts can also look at conversations you had with family members or doctors, but a clear written document carries more weight than memory alone.

A living will works best alongside a health care proxy, which is a New York statutory document. The health care proxy appoints the person who has legal authority to make medical decisions for you. The living will gives that person, and your doctors, a clear written record of what you actually wanted. Used together, the two documents cover both who decides and what they should decide.

What a living will typically addresses

A living will speaks to the kinds of medical decisions that arise when someone is seriously ill or injured and cannot communicate. It is written in general terms, since it is meant to guide decisions across a range of situations rather than list every possible hospital scenario in advance. Subjects commonly addressed include:

• Life-sustaining treatment in general, including whether you want it started, continued, or stopped
• Artificial nutrition and hydration, meaning food and fluids provided by tube rather than by mouth
• Resuscitation if your heart or breathing stops
• Mechanical ventilation to support or replace breathing
• Dialysis for kidney failure
• Pain relief and comfort care, and how much priority you want given to it

How any of these questions actually plays out depends on the medical situation at the time and the judgment of the treating providers involved. A living will guides that process by putting your wishes in writing in advance.

Why specific language matters

Because New York asks for clear and convincing evidence of a person’s wishes, general statements carry less weight than specific ones. A living will that says only that you do not want to “suffer” or want to “go naturally” gives a doctor, or a court, very little to act on. A living will that addresses particular treatments, in your own words, gives your health care agent and your doctors something concrete to rely on.

This matters most for artificial nutrition and hydration. New York expects especially clear proof of a person’s wishes on this specific question, more so than for other forms of life-sustaining treatment. If continuing or stopping artificial nutrition and hydration matters to you, your living will should say so directly, rather than leaving it folded into a general statement about life support.

How a living will, health care proxy, and power of attorney work together

A living will, a health care proxy, and a power of attorney answer three different questions, and a complete estate plan generally includes all three alongside a will. The health care proxy names who has authority to make medical decisions. The living will tells that person, and your doctors, what you want those decisions to look like. The power of attorney covers a separate area, your finances and property, such as banking, bills, and real estate, while you are alive. A living will does not reach any of that.

Copies, updates, and MOLST

A living will is only useful once it is signed, placed in the hands of the right people, and kept current. The sections below cover who should have a copy, when to revisit it, and how it relates to a separate form used in hospitals and nursing homes.

Who should have a copy

A living will only helps if the right people can find it when it matters. Give a copy to your health care agent, any successor agent you have named, your primary doctor, and close family members likely to be involved in your care. Keep the original somewhere accessible rather than in a safe deposit box, and have your attorney keep a copy as well. If you are admitted to a hospital, bring a copy with you or ask a family member to provide one on your behalf.

Keeping it current

A living will can be updated at any time while you are able to express your wishes clearly. It is worth revisiting after a new diagnosis, a significant change in your health, or simply the passage of several years. Many clients update it around the same time they review elder law and long-term care plans, since these decisions often move together.

MOLST is a separate document

MOLST (Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) is a different kind of form, used in clinical settings for people who are already seriously ill. It is completed together with a physician and turns your wishes into active medical orders that providers follow right away. A living will and health care proxy are planning documents you put in place in advance. MOLST is not a substitute for either one, and most people will not need it until a doctor recommends completing it. Some clients complete a MOLST later in life or after a serious diagnosis, working directly with their physician at that time, in addition to the living will and health care proxy already in place.