What is the difference between a living will and a DNR?

Attorney Tom Olsen: Holley, more and more these days, when I'm going through the documents that we do for people as standard procedure, one of the standard documents we always do for people is a living will. It's what I call a pull-the-plug document, don't want to be kept alive by artificial means. They'll go, "Oh, okay, and a DNR too."

Attorney Holley Knapik: Right.

Tom: No, we don't get a DNR for people. Tell the listeners how people get a DNR.

Holley: A DNR, also known as a do not resuscitate order, is a form that you would get from your primary physician. A licensed physician in the State of Florida is the person who would issue that document. This is a document that states that, should you code, you're unresponsive, you are saying you do not wish to be resuscitated. This is different from a living will declaration whereby your stating that, upon the opinion of your primary and a consulting physician, you are in a persistent vegetative state or suffering from a terminal illness and that there is no medical treatment that could give you a quality of life, you're saying now whether or not you'd wish to be kept alive via food and water and a tube.

Tom: Well stated, Holley, and I would go a little bit farther and say this, that a living will is, I would say, always used in a hospital setting.

Holley: Setting. Correct.

Tom: The living will doesn't apply at home. If you've got a living will and you call 911, they have no choice but to try and resuscitate you and get you to the hospital.

Holley: Get you to the [crosstalk]--

Tom: Then, if you have a DNR and you have that displayed at your home, under those circumstances, if you call 911, they can say, "Okay, they got a DNR. We're not going to, I don't know, shock them, resuscitate them, give them cardiovascular, whatever." That's what that's for.

Holley: Exactly. That DNR I know it has to be on a piece of paper that is colored yellow and usually displayed prominently in someone's home, their refrigerator, the bedroom door where the person may be sleeping.

Tom: You would really technically have both of these things. You'd have a living will that the Olsen Law Group would do for you. You'd get a DNR that would come from your doctor. When we do do your living will for you, we also give you a sheet that gives you information about a DNR and how to get that if you want to.

Holley: Absolutely. Just a little more information for you to make that decision with a little more information behind you.

Tom: Okay. The DNR, that always comes from your doctor, actually be signed by your doctor. It's used more in a home setting, not so much in the hospital, or [unintelligible 00:02:34] hospital too.

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