LIVING WILL

noun (People and Society) A document written by a person while still legally fit to do so, requesting that he or she should be allowed to die rather than be kept alive by artificial means if subsequently severely disabled or suffering from a terminal illness; a request for euthanasia. Etymology: Formed by compounding: a kind of will dealing specifically with an individual's understanding of what constitutes worthwhile living. History and Usage: The concept of the living will was first discussed in legal circles in the US in the late sixties; the coinage is claimed by an American lawyer, Luis Kutner. The documents themselves acquired legal status in several States during the seventies, and by the end of the eighties most States in the US recognized them. In the UK there was little mention of the living will until the end of the eighties and the legal force of these documents has not yet been fully tested in the courts. Henry Campbell discovered he had Aids in 1984. That year, after two major bouts of pneumonia, he drew up a living will. Independent 18 May 1990, p. 19