A living will instructs your doctor and loved ones on which types of life-sustaining care you should receive if you are suffering from a terminal illness or injury and can’t make your own medical decisions. Other situations where others need to make medical decisions on your behalf, such as if you have been temporarily incapacitated following an accident, should be addressed using a power of attorney for health care.

Treatments usually addressed in a living will include:

• When cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) should be administered
• The use of a respirator if you can’t breathe on your own
• Taking food or liquids through a feeding tube
• Surgery or invasive diagnostic tests
• The treatment of infections with antibiotics or other medication
• How long you should receive dialysis, if needed
• Palliative care to make you comfortable in your final days through pain management or other measures
• Whether you would like your organs, tissue, or body to be donated

When you give someone power of attorney for health care you are letting them serve as your agent to make health care decisions if you can’t do so yourself. You can also grant someone power of attorney to make medical decisions regarding your care if you are still able to communicate. In Washington, D.C., your agent can’t be the owner, operator, or employee of a long-term residential health care institution where you are receiving care.

While you are free to limit the decisions that someone with health care power of attorney can make on your behalf, an agent can usually make the following decisions on your behalf:

• The type of medical care you should receive and when it should be withdrawn
• The hospital or other facility where you will be treated
• The doctors or other medical professionals who will provide your treatment
• Whether you should be moved into a nursing home or other long-term care facility

The language in your Washington, D.C. living will is important. Be sure to clearly identify yourself using your full legal name.

The terms of your living will may be as narrow or broad as you desire, so long as your doctors and loved ones can easily discern your intentions. For example, you can simply state that you would like to refuse any life-sustaining treatment if you are unable to communicate and doctors have determined that you will not survive. Likewise, you can state that you want doctors to continue with life-prolonging medical treatment, regardless of whether you are expected to survive.

Courts in Washington, D.C., have also upheld living wills that instruct doctors to withhold or withdraw specific treatments, so long as the document is clear about its intent. For example, you could state that a feeding tube and a ventilator be used for a reasonable period of time and disconnected if your condition does not improve.

Any competent person who is over the age of 18 can sign a living will in Washington, D.C. You must sign and date the document in front of two witnesses. The witnesses must meet the following conditions:

• At least 18 years old
• Not related to you
• Not a beneficiary of your estate
• Not financially responsible for your medical care

There is no requirement that a living will be notarized in Washington, D.C., but it is recommended that you have the document notarized should the authenticity of the signature come into question.

As a general rule, the more people who have access to copies of your living will, the better. At minimum, you should provide a copy to your primary doctor and any medical facility where you expect to receive treatment. If you have given someone medical power of attorney you should provide them with a copy, along with members of your family. Finally, you should keep a copy with your important papers and take one with you when you are traveling.

Providing your doctor with a copy of your living will in advance will also give you the opportunity for them to answer any questions they may have and for you to ask whether the doctor is comfortable with the terms.