living.html -
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