All That Makes One Wonder

But living wills, while desirable, are only part of the package of documents that Americans today should have in order to resolve not only end-of-life issues but also broader questions that arise from serious medical conditions.

Experts recommend that the medical and end-of-life documents be part of a broad estate plan, one that includes a regular will and perhaps trusts and other legal instructions that will result in an orderly disposition of a person's property and affairs in ways that minimize family strife, taxes and other costs.

"That's ideal," said attorney Deborah A. Cohn of Paley, Rothman, Goldstein, Rosenberg, Eig & Cooper in Bethesda, "but frankly, if the only issues a person is willing to address are these medical ones, [doing that] at least . . . solves that problem."

It Takes More Than Living Will