What is a Halachic Living Will?

A Halachic Living Will (sometimes called a Halachic Medical Directive or Halachic Health Care Proxy) is a legally-binding form that ensures all medical decisions are made in accordance with your wishes and guided by halacha in the event that you are unable to speak for yourself. It does this by designating the healthcare proxy and rabbi of your choice to direct all medical decisions made on your behalf.

Why do I need one?

To avoid two possible scenarios:

Scenario #1

If, G-d forbid, you were to be in an accident and not be able to make medical decisions, without any advance directive in place, you are at risk of having your medical decisions being left in the hands of the doctors or medical ethics committee of the facility that you are in.

Scenario #2

If you were to be admitted into a medical facility for treatment, you are often required by the facility to sign legal documents (like MOLSTs or POLSTs) declaring in advance what medical care options you want for yourself. These options include resuscitation and intubation, dialysis, tube-feeding, among other medical interventions. If you were to subsequently be unable to make medical decisions, your healthcare providers would follow the directives articulated in those documents.

In both of these scenarios, the likely outcome would be:

• Medical decisions that are made would not conform to halacha (since it is impossible to create a halachically-sound directive that would take into account every possible scenario), and not accurately reflect what you would want for yourself.
• Disagreement and friction among family members regarding the question of who should be making medical decisions on your behalf.

At what age do I need one?

Life is unpredictable.
If you are over the age of 18, even if you are in perfect health, you need to fill out a Halachic Living Will.