What is an Advance Health Care Directive (or Living Will)?

Helping someone to prepare for the final decisions of life care can be a great comfort to the person and other family members. The document that helps you do that is an advance directive for health care or living will – what he called and what it includes depends on where the person – sometimes associated with a proxy for care health. For more information on how to implement an advance directive for health care or living wills, see Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills: A Step by step guide.

This document is important because, given a medical situation where a person can not speak for himself – nothing catastrophic, short, temporary state of terminal illness long – allowing health care providers and other decision makers know their preferences, and may authorize a person to speak on behalf of the person. Without an advance directive for health care or living will, patients can not communicate can be left to the discretion of family disputes or confused by doctors who could use artificial means to prolong life, or refused, regardless of what the patient wants.

An advance directive for health care is the main legal instrument to protect the health of a person you want as long as they can not speak for itself. The health care directive applies at all times the person is unable to communicate or not, the situation is life threatening, and as long as necessary. Examples are temporary condition of a patient after a stroke or disabling chronic disease in the long run, the last stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

An advance directive for health care can be given to the wishes of the person as to the specific attention and does not, and may appoint a person – usually a close family member – to oversee the care or make decisions for him when is unable to do so. An advance directive for health care does not cancel the direct control of the person in their care until he can still speak for itself.

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