THE LIVING WILL AS AN EXPRESSION OF INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY

Abstract

The living will represents an expression of the subject's current autonomy which is intended to be effective at a future point in time. It presupposes a certain idea of the availability of life and personal health. As such, it calls for the strictest consideration of the capacity requirements that denote the subject's competence. It is an indicative instrument of the patient's will of a non-determining nature, which should be combined with other indications, it being understood that the present will of the subject, even if it is a tacit will, should prevail over the will expressed in the past. The appointment of representatives in the document can be useful insofar as it helps to delimit the precise meaning of the individual will given the impossibility of foreseeing in advance all the nuances of the case. We propose that the control of the legality of the content of the document be carried out a posteriori, at the time of its execution, and not at the time of its signature.