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2. Next: Click on the "+" button to expand the dropdown answers/responses.
3. Text in Blue represents the CORRECT answer.
4. Text in Red represents incorrect information, yet read the excerpt as it explains why the response was incorrect..
5. Some responses have additional information that might be helpful to keep in mind and are also in blue text at the bottom of the drop down menu.
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If you would like to explore the topic further, find the appendix in the top menu. Each citation used to support the correct answers will be available to access via the hyperlink button.
Question 1: What is a Living Will?
[ The correct answer is "C".]
C. A Living Will is a written record that allows your healthcare decision maker, physician, and/or healthcare provider to know what medical wishes you desire (Advance Directives, 2026)
CORRECT: The Living Will is a legal document which serves as a written record of what healthcare treatments you want, or medical care you do NOT want. It is NOT recognized as an order. It is meant to help guide care in the way you would prefer. It is meant to help communicate your specific healthcare wishes in the event you are unable to do so (Advanced Directives, 2026).
A. The Living Will is a way of ensuring your property and assets are distributed as you wish.
Incorrect: The Living Will has no bearing on any assets, property, bills, or financial matters and ONLY pertains to your specific healthcare wishes (A.D.A.M., 2026).
B. A Living Will is a physician’s order which will either allow or refuse life-sustaining measures if you are deemed terminal and unable to make decisions for yourself.
Incorrect: While a Living Will allows you to record your future healthcare wishes, it is not a physician's order (Advance Directives, 2026).
It is merely a written guide where you can communicate and instruct your surrogate healthcare decision makers on which healthcare pathways you desire if you are incapacitated (Advance Directives, 2026).
Question 2: A Living Will requires your signature and date. What other signatures are needed for this advance directive to become valid?
[The Correct answer is "C"]
C. Any adult over the age of 18 who is NOT your physician, NOT entitled to your estate or finances and NOT responsible for providing you with medical care may sign as a witness for this advance directive (Illinois Department on Aging, n.d).
Correct: The Living Will advance directive in Illinois does require signatures to validate this directive, however there are some caveats to who is allowed to serve as a witness/signatory (Advanced Directives, 2026).
- Witness signatures have the following conditions that must be met:
1. Both witnesses must be over the age of 18 (Advanced Directives, 2026).
2. Both witnesses must be of sound mind (Advanced Directives, 2026).
3. The "Principal" (Person/Patient who is dictating their wishes) is the only person who can choose who the signing witnesses will be (Advanced Directives, 2026).
4. People who can sign as a witness: A close friend, a neighbor, your personal lawyer, or a family member (as long as they have no involvement with your finances or any claim of your finances or assets through potential inheritance) (Advanced Directives, 2026).
Some additional information to be aware of:
Illinois exclusions for witness signature:
- Your physician and/or any healthcare provider are NOT allowed to sign as a witness to your Living Will advance directive if they are currently providing you with any healthcare services (Advanced Directives, 2026).
- No one who is responsible for paying your medical bills or managing your finances is allowed to sign as a witness to your living will advance directive (Advanced Directives, 2026).
- Anyone listed as a potential beneficiary of your estate or your financial assets may not act as a witness/signatory to your Living Will advance directive (Advanced Directives, 2026).
A. Your physician and/or any of your healthcare providers need to sign as they will carry out your healthcare wishes.
Incorrect: This is NOT a physician's order. No healthcare professional caring for you is allowed to sign as a witness to either your Living Will or your Healthcare Power of Attorney (Illinois Department on Aging, n.d).
B. You must have a lawyer and your financial power of attorney sign as this is a legal document requiring an official court filing in Illinois.
Incorrect: It is a misconception that a Living Will requires a Financial Power of Attorney and/or a lawyer's signature (Advanced Directives, 2026).
Question 3: Why is a Living Will important ?
[The Correct answer is "C"]
C. It provides a written record of what you desire for healthcare choices in the event you are incapacitated and cannot convey your medical and healthcare wishes (National Institute on Aging [NIA], 2022).
Correct: The Living Will has a singular focus of attending only to your specific decisions about healthcare choices in the event you are unable to communicate them yourself (National Institute on Aging [NIA], 2022).
A. It safeguards your finances while you are incapacitated.
Incorrect: The living will advance directive ONLY reviews, discusses and chooses MEDICAL wishes only. There is no financial matters in this directive (National Institute on Aging [NIA], 2022).
B. It allows others to make financial decisions about your personal property, personal assets and/or financial bills and the ability to pay if you become unable to do so.
Incorrect: As mentioned above; this advance directive ONLY deals with your specific healthcare wishes. It has nothing to do with any financial matters (National Institute on Aging [NIA], 2022).
Question 4: Does a Living Will directive include an option to select your Power of Attorney for Health Care POA-HC ?
[The Correct Answer is B]
B. Correct: No, the Illinois Living Will advance directive only communicates what healthcare treatments and options you wish to have followed in the event you are unable to communicate those wishes yourself (Advanced Directives, 2026).
The Living Will and the POA-HC are TWO different documents that serve two different healthcare purposes.
A. Yes, the Illinois Living Will advance directive does allow you to choose who you wish to designate as your Health Care Power of Attorney.
Incorrect: It is a common misconception that the Living Will and the Power of Attorney for Heatlh Care advance directives are combined on one legal document (Advance Directives, 2026).
Question 5: Which the following people are allowed to sign as a witness to your Living Will ?
[The Correct answer is "A"]
A. CORRECT: To act as a witness for your living will you must be over the age of 18 years old, considered mentally competent and of sound mind and you may be a neighbor, friend or acquaintance.
You can not however be a family member who would benefit financially by your death such as by inheritance. You can not, however, be a person associated with your payment of your financial bills. You can not be medical care provider such as your physician or care provider to sign a living will directive (National Institute on Aging [NIA], 2023).
B. Only your physician or other healthcare providers can sign as a witness for your Living Will or Power of Attorney for Health Care.
Incorrect: Nobody who is providing healthcare to you (Physician, nurse, healthcare worker) is allowed to sign your living will or power of attorney (National Institute on Aging [NIA], 2023).
C. Any person over the age of 16 years old who is a direct relation can sign as witness for the Illinois Living Will or your Power of Attorney for Healthcare advance directive.
Incorrect: Only adults who are 18 or older can sign as a witness to your living will. It is important also to note that any family member who may inherit or benefit financially from your death is NOT allowed to sign your Living Will or Power of Attorney for Healthcare (National Institute on Aging [NIA], 2023).
Question 6: What is a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) ?
The Correct answer is "B".
B. The advance directive, known as a DNR is a signed medical order that instructs any/all healthcare providers not to attempt CPR, Cardioversion (Electric shock), or ventilator support if the person stops breathing and/or if the heart stops beating. It MUST be signed by a physician, physician's assistant or advance practice nurse and witnessed to become a valid advance directive (Breyre et al., 2025).
Correct: This is specifically a physician order that specifies which life-prolonging measures you do NOT want. It may be a full DNR which would exclude CPR, Ventilator support or cardioversion. It may be a partial DNR or a Do Not Intubate (DNI) thus allowing CPR and electric cardioversion, but Not ventilator support to sustain life (Breyre et al., 2025).
A. The DNR assigns a specifically chosen family member to make decisions about life-prolonging support in the event you are incapacitated.
Incorrect: Family members who are legally chosen to make medical decisions on your behalf are designated as the Power of Attorney for Health Care (POA-HC). The DNR is actually a physician’s order that communicate a specific wish about life-prolonging resuscitative measures (Advanced Directives, 2026).
C. The DNR is a written request by an individual that allows tube feedings and IV hydration if the physician agrees to these life-prolonging measures.
Incorrect: An individual may request that tube feedings and/or IV hydration are withheld, however, these healthcare directives/requests are more commonly located on a person’s living will or on an actual physician approved order known as the POLST (Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) rather than the standard Illinois DNR form (Advanced Directives, 2026).
Question 7: Is a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) the same as a POLST (Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment)?
[B is the Correct answer]
B. The DNR and the POLST are similar as both may contain a medical order refusing CPR, Ventilator or Cardioversion measures if your heart or breathing stops. (Nnate, 2021).
Correct: The DNR is much more narrow in its directive. The POLST may contain all of the same elements of the DNR, however it can extend beyond the DNR and provide medical orders for IV fluids for hydration, IV antibiotic therapy and/or artificial means of nutrition (Nnate, 2021).
The POLST (Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) has greater breadth and expands upon other life-prolonging interventions than a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) (Nnate, 2021).
Additional Notes:
Also: The Illinois POLST may comprise several possible state recognized medical orders on one uniformly accepted healthcare document so that secondary life-prolonging measures such as IV antibiotics, IV fluid therapy and artificial means of nutrition can be addressed in one document that validates these wishes as physician orders (Nnate, 2021).
A. The DNR and the POLST are exactly the same, yet the POLST is honored in all states nationwide.
Incorrect: The DNR is a much more limited advance directive that may not include preferences and/or medical orders to withhold IV hydration, tube feedings or life-prolonging measures such as cardiogenic medications or interventions (Nnate, 2021).
C. The POLST does not need a physician, physician assistant or advance practice nurse signature and only requires two family members to sign as witnesses.
Incorrect: The POLST (Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) is a medical order and will require the signature of a physician, physician assistant or an advance practice nurse (as applicable by individual state law). The POLST contains elements of the DNR, however it extends well beyond the scope of the DNR advance directive (Nnate, 2021).