In preparing a living will, the competent decision maker is _________.

In preparing a living will, the competent decision maker is _________.

• A. the executor
• B. the spouse
• C. the author
• D. the attorney

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is autonomy in end-of-life planning: a living will is a document created by the person who wants to express their own medical preferences while they are still competent to decide. Because the living will records that individual's choices, the person who writes it is the competent decision maker at the time of signing—the author of the directive. The other roles serve different functions and do not determine the patient’s own decisions within the living will. The executor handles duties after death, the spouse might be involved as a surrogate only if there’s a separate health-care proxy or similar arrangement, and the attorney may help draft the document but does not itself assume the decision-making authority for the patient’s medical care. So the author is the competent decision maker because they are the one whose wishes the living will is documenting while they can still decide.

The main idea here is autonomy in end-of-life planning: a living will is a document created by the person who wants to express their own medical preferences while they are still competent to decide. Because the living will records that individual's choices, the person who writes it is the competent decision maker at the time of signing—the author of the directive. The other roles serve different functions and do not determine the patient’s own decisions within the living will. The executor handles duties after death, the spouse might be involved as a surrogate only if there’s a separate health-care proxy or similar arrangement, and the attorney may help draft the document but does not itself assume the decision-making authority for the patient’s medical care. So the author is the competent decision maker because they are the one whose wishes the living will is documenting while they can still decide.