A living will is a legal document that expresses a person’s personal health-care wishes in the event the individual is unable to make decisions, says Burton Brasher of the Fort Sam Houston legal assistance office. “If you’re incapacitated, a living will provides the doctor with guidance for your continued treatment,” he added. This guidance includes decisions related to extraordinary measures to sustain life. There is no federal standard for living wills, so some states have a single document, while others use two; one is a directive to physicians expressing the patient’s personal desires in advance, and the other designates an individual who would decide on the measures taken to preserve life at a later time. Military legal assistance offices can prepare living wills free of charge to active-duty servicemembers, family members, retirees and reservists on active duty for 30 or more days.