如果有一天患上不治之癥，身心飽受病魔摧殘，毫無生活質(zhì)量可言。你會選擇采用各種方式維持生命還是放棄一切生命維持措施，有尊嚴(yán)、無痛苦地死亡？現(xiàn)在，你可以把這個(gè)決定寫進(jìn)你的“生前預(yù)囑”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 “l(fā)iving will.”

Living will（生前預(yù)囑）是預(yù)立醫(yī)療指示（advance directive）最早的形式，最初由伊利諾伊州一位名叫路易斯?庫特納的律師在1969年的一份法律期刊上提出。現(xiàn)行的財(cái)產(chǎn)法允許個(gè)人對身故后的財(cái)產(chǎn)事務(wù)提前做好安排，庫特納從中獲得靈感提出了讓個(gè)人提前表明在身體無法自主時(shí)想要得到的醫(yī)療護(hù)理要求。因?yàn)檫@種“囑愿”要在個(gè)人活著（但無法做決定）的時(shí)候使用，所以被稱為“生前預(yù)囑”。

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.”

生前預(yù)囑只能在個(gè)人無法做出知情同意或否決的決定時(shí)使用。預(yù)囑可以很具體也可以很寬泛。會被寫入預(yù)囑的聲明可能會是這樣的：“如果我患了不治之癥或處于無力回天的境地，而我的醫(yī)生也認(rèn)為我的情況無法挽回，我要求禁用或停用那些只會延長我死亡進(jìn)程的生命維持手段。”

Living wills proved to be very popular, and by 2007, 41% of Americans had completed a living will. In response to public needs, state legislatures soon passed laws in support of living wills in virtually every state in the union.

生前預(yù)囑受到普遍認(rèn)可，到2007年，已有41%的美國人立了生前預(yù)囑。為了回應(yīng)公眾需求，美國各州的立法部門在短時(shí)間內(nèi)基本都通過了支持生前預(yù)囑的法案。

Living wills reflect a moment in time, and may therefore need regular updating to ensure that the correct course of action can be chosen. (Source: Wikipedia)

生前預(yù)囑只能反應(yīng)某個(gè)時(shí)間段的狀態(tài)，因此需要定期更新以確保做出正確的指令選擇。

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（中國日報(bào)網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 Helen）

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