A Florida living will allows you to express whether life-prolonging procedures should be provided, withheld, or withdrawn under specific medical circumstances while preserving comfort care and pain relief.
Few health care decisions are more personal than deciding what should happen if a serious medical condition leaves you unable to speak for yourself. Some people want every available measure continued for as long as possible. Others do not want medical procedures to prolong the dying process when recovery is no longer reasonably expected. Many people fall somewhere between those positions.
A living will gives you an opportunity to express those wishes while you are able to make an informed decision. It is not simply a form to sign. It is a conversation about your values, the circumstances in which your instructions should apply, and the type of care you would—or would not—want to receive.
What Is a Living Will?
A living will is a type of advance directive. Unlike a last will and testament, which addresses property after death, a living will addresses medical care during life.
Under Florida law, a competent adult may use a living will or written declaration to direct the **providing, withholding, or withdrawal of life-prolonging procedures** if the person later has a terminal condition, an end-stage condition, or is in a persistent vegetative state.
The living will speaks for the patient when the patient is no longer able to make or communicate the relevant decision. While a person retains decision-making capacity, that person remains entitled to direct his or her own medical care.
The Choice to Continue Life-Prolonging Procedures
Some individuals want life-prolonging procedures to continue regardless of prognosis or for a particular period of time. Their decision may be based on religious beliefs, personal values, hope for additional time with family, concern about diagnostic uncertainty, or a desire to pursue all available treatment.
A living will can communicate a desire for treatment to be provided or continued. It may also include individualized instructions, such as requesting continued treatment for a defined period, allowing particular procedures while declining others, or directing that treatment continue unless specified medical circumstances are confirmed.
Choosing continued treatment is a valid personal decision. The purpose of advance care planning is not to steer everyone toward the same answer; it is to make the individual’s answer known.
The Choice to Withhold or Withdraw Life-Prolonging Procedures
Other individuals do not want medical procedures to prolong the dying process when there is no reasonable medical probability of recovery from a qualifying condition. They may direct that life-prolonging procedures be withheld—meaning not started—or withdrawn after they have been started.
Florida law defines a life-prolonging procedure as a medical procedure, treatment, or intervention that sustains, restores, or replaces a spontaneous vital function. The statutory definition includes artificially provided sustenance and hydration.
These decisions are commonly associated with treatments such as mechanical ventilation, artificial nutrition and hydration, or other interventions that may maintain bodily functions without curing or reversing the underlying condition. The application of a living will depends on its language, the patient’s condition, and the medical circumstances.
Allowing a Natural Death Does Not Mean Abandoning Care
One of the most important distinctions in this discussion is the difference between **life-prolonging treatment** and **comfort care**.
Directing that life-prolonging procedures be withheld or withdrawn does not ordinarily mean that all treatment, medication, food, attention, or compassion stops. Florida’s statutory definition of a life-prolonging procedure specifically excludes medication or medical procedures deemed necessary to provide comfort care or alleviate pain.
Florida’s suggested living-will language likewise contemplates permitting a person to die naturally while still receiving medication and medical procedures necessary for comfort or pain relief. Hospice and palliative care may focus on managing pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, agitation, nausea, and other distressing symptoms while supporting the patient and family.
In other words, a decision not to artificially prolong the dying process is not a decision to die without care. It is a decision about the goals of that care.
When May a Florida Living Will Apply?
A living will does not generally direct the withdrawal of treatment merely because a person is temporarily unconscious, has a disability, or needs assistance with daily living. Its language identifies the medical conditions and other requirements that must exist before its instructions apply.
Florida’s suggested form allows a person to indicate one or more of the following circumstances:
- A terminal condition;
- An end-stage condition; or
- A persistent vegetative state.
Before life-prolonging procedures may be withheld or withdrawn based on such a determination, Florida law requires the patient’s primary physician and at least one consulting physician to examine the patient separately. Their findings must be documented and signed in the medical record.
The wording of the particular living will remains important. A person may choose different instructions for different medical circumstances and may include additional directions reflecting personal wishes.
Questions Worth Considering
Completing a living will requires more than checking a box. Helpful questions may include:
- What does an acceptable quality of life mean to me?
- Would I want treatment continued if it offered only a very small chance of recovery?
- Would I want a trial period of treatment before a decision is made?
- How do I feel about mechanical ventilation?
- How do I feel about artificially provided nutrition and hydration?
- Would my wishes differ among a terminal condition, an end-stage condition, and a persistent vegetative state?
- Are there religious or personal beliefs that should be explained?
- Who understands my values well enough to speak for me?
- What comfort measures would I want regardless of my other choices?
These conversations may be uncomfortable, but they can spare loved ones from having to guess during a crisis.
A Living Will and a Health Care Surrogate Work Together
A living will provides instructions about life-prolonging procedures. A designation of health care surrogate names a person authorized to make health care decisions or receive health information as provided in that document.
Using both documents can be helpful. The living will communicates the principal’s wishes, while the surrogate can apply those wishes to the medical circumstances, speak with providers, and address questions that the written instructions may not specifically anticipate.
The selected surrogate should receive a copy and understand the person’s values before an emergency arises. Naming an alternate surrogate is also advisable in case the first person is unavailable or unable to serve.
Signing and Sharing a Florida Living Will
Florida law generally requires a written living will to be signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. At least one witness must be neither the declarant’s spouse nor a blood relative.
Signing the document is only part of the planning process. A living will cannot guide treatment if no one knows that it exists. Copies should be provided to the appropriate health care surrogate, physician, and other trusted individuals. Florida law places responsibility on the person making the living will to provide for notice to the primary physician, and a notified physician or facility must place the living will or a copy in the medical record.
The document should also be reviewed periodically and after a major diagnosis, marriage, divorce, death of a named surrogate, relocation, or significant change in personal wishes.
There Is No Universal Answer
A living will is not about choosing the “right” answer for everyone. It is about preserving the individual’s right to make deeply personal health care choices.
Whether you want life-prolonging procedures continued, limited, withheld, or withdrawn under particular circumstances, those wishes should be stated clearly and discussed with the people who may one day be asked to honor them. Careful planning can give guidance to medical providers, reduce uncertainty for loved ones, and help ensure that future care reflects your values.
Our office can help you review the available choices, prepare a living will suited to your wishes, and coordinate it with your designation of health care surrogate and other estate planning documents.
This article is intended as a general overview and does not address every fact pattern or recent change in Florida law. Florida statutes are amended regularly; consult a Florida-licensed attorney for guidance specific to your matter.
