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Preferred term

living wills  

Definition

  • Living wills are advanced health care directives that instruct attending health care professionals of an individual' wishes in the event the individual has a terminal condition from which there is no reasonable medical expectation of recovery and that, as a medical probability, will result in the individual' death regardless of the use or discontinuance of medical treatment implemented for the purpose of sustaining life or the life processes. When an individual is diagnosed as having such a medical condition and the individual is unable to communicate, a living will sets forth the individual' directions regarding death-delaying procedures and end-of-life care. [Source: Encyclopedia of Health Care Management; Living Wills]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/living_wills

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