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如果有一天患上不治之症，身心饱受病魔摧残，毫无生活质量可言。你会选择采用各种方式维持生命还是放弃一切生命维持措施，有尊严、无痛苦地死亡？现在，你可以把这个决定写进你的“生前预嘱”里。 The living will is the oldest form of advance directive. It was first proposed by an Illinois attorney, Luis Kutner, in a law journal in 1969. Kutner drew from existing estate law, by which an individual can control property affairs after death and devised a way for an individual to express his or her health care desires when no longer able to express current health care wishes. Because this form of “will” was to be used while an individual was still alive (but no longer able to make decisions) it was dubbed the “living will.” Living will（生前预嘱）是预立医疗指示（advance directive）最早的形式，最初由伊利诺伊州一位名叫路易斯•库特纳的律师在1969年的一份法律期刊上提出。现行的财产法允许个人对身故后的财产事务提前做好安排，库特纳从中获得灵感提出了让个人提前表明在身体无法自主时想要得到的医疗护理要求。因为这种“嘱愿”要在个人活着（但无法做决定）的时候使用，所以被称为“生前预嘱”。 The living will is used only if the individual has become unable to give informed consent or refusal due to incapacity. A living will can be very specific or very general. An example of a statement sometimes found in a living will is: “If I suffer an incurable, irreversible illness, disease, or condition and my attending physician determines that my condition is terminal, I direct that life-sustaining measures that would serve only to prolong my dying be withheld or discontinued.” | 
