The Florida Legislature has recognized that each person has the fundamental right regarding decisions pertaining to his or her health, including the right to refuse medical treatment subject to certain interests in society to protect human life and the preservation of ethical standards in the medical profession.  Toward that end, Florida law allows every competent adult to make a written declaration known as a "Living Will". 

A Living Will allows a person to direct the withholding or withdrawal of life prolonging procedures in the event he or she is incapacitated and has a terminal condition, end stage condition, or is in a persistent vegetative state.  In such circumstances, when the attending physician and another consulting physician have determined there is no reasonable medical probability of recovery, the Living Will provides that life-prolonging procedures are to be withheld or withdrawn if they serve only to prolong artificially the process of dying.

A Living Will should not be confused with a person's Will, which disposes of his or her assets upon death.  A Living Will must be properly executed to be effective, including the fact that it must be signed by its maker in the presence of two witnesses who also must sign their names.  A Living Will may be revoked at any time.