Medical decisions can become difficult when a patient is too ill or injured to communicate. Family members may know what they believe the person would want, but they may not agree with one another, and health care providers need to know who has legal authority to make decisions.
Advance health care planning allows you to address those questions before a crisis occurs.
Illinois law recognizes several ways to document health care wishes and decision-making authority. Depending on your circumstances, planning may include a power of attorney for health care, a living will, or other medical directives and orders. These documents serve different purposes, and understanding how they work together is an important part of creating a complete plan.
Keller Legal Services assists individuals and families in Naperville, DuPage County, Kane County, Will County, and surrounding Illinois communities with advance health care planning as part of a broader estate plan.
“Advance healthcare directive” is a broad term used to describe documents through which a person addresses future health care decisions before becoming unable to make or communicate those decisions.
In Illinois, this planning can involve several different documents. Among the most important are:
These documents are not simply different names for the same thing.
Some allow you to appoint another person to make decisions. Others directly state your wishes concerning particular types of care. Understanding those differences can help you decide what belongs in your own plan.
For many people, one of the most important advance planning documents is a power of attorney for health care.
Illinois law expressly recognizes an individual’s right to control personal care and medical treatment, including the right to decline treatment or direct that treatment be withdrawn. The Illinois Power of Attorney Act also provides a mechanism for delegating health care decision-making authority to a trusted agent if the individual cannot make those decisions personally.
Under 755 ILCS 45/4-10, Illinois provides a statutory short form power of attorney for health care. Subject to limitations contained in the document, the form can authorize an agent to make health care decisions on the principal’s behalf.
That authority can be significant. Depending on the document and circumstances, health care decisions may involve medical treatment, admission to or discharge from health care facilities, access to medical information, and decisions concerning life-sustaining treatment.
Your health care agent may someday be asked to make decisions at an emotionally difficult time. The person you choose should therefore be someone you trust not only personally, but also to carry out your wishes.
Consider whether the person:
You may also want to name successor agents in case your first choice is unavailable when needed.
The broader legal authority created by these documents is addressed on Keller Legal Services’ page about Illinois powers of attorney.
A living will is different from a last will and testament.
A will used for estate planning addresses property and other matters following death. An Illinois living will addresses certain medical treatment decisions while a person is still alive.
The Illinois Living Will Act allows an adult of sound mind to execute a declaration directing that death-delaying procedures be withheld or withdrawn under the circumstances covered by the statute and declaration.
Under 755 ILCS 35/3, the statutory form contemplates a person with an incurable and irreversible injury, disease, or illness that the attending physician has determined is terminal, with death imminent except for death-delaying procedures. The declaration can direct that procedures serving only to prolong the dying process be withheld or withdrawn while comfort care continues.
Illinois defines a “death delaying procedure” to include medical interventions that, when applied to a qualified patient, would serve only to postpone death. The statutory definition gives examples that can include assisted ventilation, artificial kidney treatments, intravenous feeding or medication, blood transfusions, and tube feeding in appropriate circumstances.
A living will therefore has a more specific function than a health care power of attorney.
This distinction is worth understanding before preparing either document.
A health care power of attorney primarily answers:
Who should make health care decisions for me when the agent has authority to act?
A living will primarily addresses:
What should happen regarding death-delaying treatment under the circumstances covered by my declaration and Illinois law?
Those are related questions, but they are not identical.
A health care agent can respond to medical circumstances as they actually develop. A living will provides written direction concerning the treatment situations within its scope.
Illinois law also establishes how these documents interact. As of 2026, 755 ILCS 35/3.5 provides that a living will declaration is not operative while an agent is available and authorized under a health care agency to make decisions concerning life-sustaining or death-delaying procedures. The statute provides that the health care agent’s authority is not impaired or superseded by the Living Will Act.
That is one reason these documents should be considered together rather than prepared independently without understanding how they relate.
Some people encounter another document called a POLST, which stands for Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment.
A POLST is not simply another general estate planning document that everyone should automatically sign.
It is a medical orders form intended for circumstances in which decisions about life-sustaining treatment have particular relevance to a person’s current medical condition. Illinois law expressly provides that execution of a Department of Public Health Uniform POLST form is voluntary and cannot be required as a condition of admission to a facility or receipt of health care services. 755 ILCS 40/65 also provides for consent by the individual or, in specified circumstances, an authorized representative.
For someone who is young and healthy and simply putting an estate plan in place, a POLST generally presents a different planning question from selecting a health care agent.
For someone facing serious illness or significant medical issues, discussing the appropriate medical orders with health care providers may become much more relevant.
Advance health care planning can become confusing when several documents exist.
Illinois law contains rules addressing the interaction among health care powers of attorney, living wills, mental health treatment declarations, and other mechanisms for medical decision-making.
For example, the Illinois Health Care Surrogate Act recognizes that an operative living will, qualifying mental health treatment declaration, or authorized health care agent may control when the patient’s condition falls within the document’s coverage.
The practical lesson is that medical planning documents should be coordinated.
Preparing several documents without considering how they work together can create unnecessary questions about which document applies and who has authority.
Signing an advance directive is important, but the planning process should not necessarily end there.
Consider having a direct conversation with your health care agent about what matters to you.
That discussion might include:
You do not need to predict every medical situation that could possibly arise. In many cases, that would be impossible.
The goal is to give the person you selected enough understanding of your values that the agent can make informed decisions if circumstances arise that you never specifically anticipated.
A health care directive cannot provide much practical guidance if no one knows it exists or cannot locate it when a medical emergency occurs.
After executing appropriate documents, consider who should have access to them.
Depending on the document and your circumstances, that may include:
Illinois law requires health care facilities to maintain advance directives provided by a patient or another authorized person in the patient’s medical records.
You should also consider whether the people who may need the documents know where current copies are kept.
Medical wishes, family relationships, and the people you trust can change.
Reviewing your directives can be particularly worthwhile when:
Reviewing a directive does not necessarily mean replacing it. The purpose is to make sure that the people, instructions, and documents still reflect what you want.
Medical decisions are only one category of decisions that may need to be made if you become incapacitated.
A health care agent generally does not receive broad authority to manage all of your financial affairs merely because that person can make health care decisions. Bills, banking, property, insurance, taxes, and other financial matters may require separate authority.
That is why advanced health care directives are commonly considered alongside a power of attorney for financial and property matters and other components of an estate plan.
Likewise, a trust may provide continuity in the management of assets held within the trust. Keller Legal Services discusses that separate planning tool on its page addressing trusts in Illinois.
The goal is for the documents to complement one another without assigning conflicting responsibilities.
Advance planning is not limited to people who are already seriously ill. A health care power of attorney, in particular, allows an adult to decide in advance who should have decision-making authority if an unexpected illness or injury prevents the person from making decisions personally.
No. An Illinois living will is a statutory declaration concerning death-delaying procedures under circumstances covered by the Living Will Act. Medical orders concerning resuscitation or other life-sustaining treatment involve different legal and medical considerations.
Illinois law provides mechanisms for revoking or amending health care agencies. If your choice changes, it is important to properly update the arrangement and make sure the appropriate people and providers know which document is current.
They can be, but they do not have to be. Someone who is well suited to manage financial matters may not be the person you would choose to make difficult medical decisions. Each role should be considered on its own.
Advance health care planning gives you an opportunity to make decisions while you can consider them carefully, choose who you trust to speak for you, and provide guidance that may become important during an unexpected medical situation.
Keller Legal Services helps individuals and families in Naperville, DuPage County, Kane County, Will County, and surrounding Illinois communities incorporate health care directives into their estate plans.
If you want to put your wishes in writing or review directives you prepared in the past, call 630-505-1515 to schedule a free consultation with Keller Legal Services.
