Advance Directives ("Living Wills")

An Advance Directive is commonly known as a Living Will and gives you the opportunity to formally set out your wishes as far as any future medical treatment you may receive in the event that you are not sufficiently well enough to communicate you feelings at the time.

The purpose of an Advance Directive is to give you control over what you want to happen in certain situations, i.e. a request, a refusal, to restrict or endorse the presumption of consent, appoint a proxy to make the decision, to give the autonomy to end life, and to preserve the dignity and privacy of the incapacitated.

One of the benefits of making an Advance Directive is that it improves communication between your family and medical staff and removes the burden of making difficult decisions from your loved ones.