Advance care directives

When you are very ill or injured, you may not be able to make health care choices for yourself. If you are unable to speak for yourself, your health care providers may be unclear as to what type of care you would prefer. Your family members may be uncertain or disagree about the type of medical care you should receive. An advance care directive is a legal document that tells your providers and others involved in helping you what care you agree to or decline in advance of this type of situation.

With an advance care directive, you can tell your providers what medical treatment you do not want to have and what treatment you want no matter how ill you are.

Writing an advance care directive may be difficult. You need to:

A living will (advance care directive) explains the care you do or do not want. In it, you can state your wishes about receiving:

Each state has laws about living wills. You can find out about the laws in your state from your providers, the state law organization, community social workers, and most hospitals.

You should also know that:

Other types of advance directives include:

Write your living will or health care power of attorney according to your state's laws. Your attorney, provider, hospital or community social worker will be able to help you with proper documentation.

You can change your decisions at any time. Be sure to tell everyone involved, family members, proxies, and providers, if you make changes to your advance directive or a living will is changed. Copy, save, and share the new documents with them.

Arnold RM, Kutner JS. Palliative care. In: Goldman L, Cooney KA, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 27th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2024:chap 3.

National Institute on Aging website. Advance Care Planning: Advance Directives for Health Care. www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning/advance-care-planning-advance-directives-health-care#find. Updated October 31, 2022. Accessed February 13, 2024.

Shreves A, Quest TE. End of life. In: Walls RM, ed. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2023:chap e5.



Review Date: 2/3/2024
Reviewed By: Frank D. Brodkey, MD, FCCM, Associate Professor, Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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