The living will is usually interpreted as the ultimate manifestation of the principle of individual autonomy. It is autonomy taken to its ultimate consequences, the autonomy of the cautious individual who wants to guarantee its future exercise beyond any physical or intellectual limitation. However, its activation presents certain risks from the very logic of the principle of autonomy. Firstly, because the generalisation of subscriptions to living wills could lead to a certain disregard for the autonomy of those who decide not to sign the document. Secondly, because of the risk that the will expressed in the past, possibly very remote, would prevail over
the current tacit will of someone who has already lost his or her intellectual competence. It is proposed to require the periodic renewal of the signature of the living will in order for it to have full legal force.