What kind of medical care would you want if you were too ill or hurt to express your wishes? Advance directives are legal documents that allow you to convey your decisions about end-of-life care ahead of time. They provide a way for you to communicate your wishes to family, friends and health care professionals, and to avoid confusion later on.
A living will tells how you feel about care intended to sustain life. You can accept or refuse medical care. There are many issues to address, including
- The use of dialysis and breathing machines
- If you want to be resuscitated if breathing or heartbeat stops
- Tube feeding
- Organ or tissue donation
A durable power of attorney for health care is a document that names your health care proxy. Your proxy is someone you trust to make health decisions if you are unable to do so.
National Cancer Institute
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Advance Directives and Do Not Resuscitate Orders(American Academy of Family Physicians) - http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/pat-advocacy/endoflife/003.printerview.html
Also available in Spanish http://familydoctor.org/online/famdoces/home/pat-advocacy/endoflife/003.printerview.html
- End of Life Decisions: Advance Directives(National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization) - Links to PDF - http://www.caringinfo.org/UserFiles/File/PDFs/AdvanceDirectives/ENGLISH_Advance_Dir.pdf
- Living Wills and Advance Directives: Tools for Medical Wishes(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/living-wills/HA00014/METHOD=print
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Put it in Writing(American Hospital Association) - Links to PDF - http://www.putitinwriting.org/putitinwriting/content/piiwbrochure.pdf
Also available in Spanish http://www.putitinwriting.org/putitinwriting/content/piiwbrochure_sp.pdf
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Advance Directives
(National Cancer Institute) - http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/support/advance-directives
- Advance Directives(American Cancer Society) - http://www.cancer.org/docroot/MIT/mit_3_1_1.asp
- Health Care Agents: Appointing One and Being One(National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization) - Large PDF file - http://www.caringinfo.org/UserFiles/File/PDFs/AdvanceDirectives/QAHealthCareAgentsBooklet.pdf
- Making Medical Decisions for a Loved One at the End of Life(American College of Physicians) - Links to PDF - http://www.acponline.org/patients_families/pdfs/health/med_decisions.pdf
- Psychiatric Advance Directives FAQs(National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives) - http://www.nrc-pad.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=3&id=7&Itemid=25
- Talking about Your Final Wishes(AARP) - http://www.aarp.org/families/end_life/a2003-12-02-endoflife-finalwishes.html?print=yes
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ClinicalTrials.gov: Advance Directives(National Institutes of Health) - http://clinicaltrials.gov/search/open/term=%22Advance+Directives%22
- Advance Care Planning: Preferences for Care at the End of Life(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) - http://www.ahrq.gov/research/endliferia/endria.htm
References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
- Article: Resuscitation of likely nonviable newborns: would neonatology practices in California... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19336366&tool=MedlinePlus
- Article: Alberta creates electronic registry for personal directives. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19332750&tool=MedlinePlus
- Article: Oregonians' reasons for requesting physician aid in dying. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=19273779&tool=MedlinePlus
- Advance Directives -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=(advance+directives[majr]+OR+right+to+die[majr]+OR+resuscitation+orders[majr])+AND+english[la]+AND+humans[mh]+AND+(jsubsetk[text]+OR+review[pt]+OR+guideline[pt]+OR+patient+education+handout[pt]+OR+jsubsetaim[text]+OR+jsubsetn[text]+OR+systematic[sb])+NOT+(letter[pt]+OR+editorial[pt]+OR+case+reports[pt]+OR+living+wills[mh])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus
- Living wills -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=living+wills[mh]+AND+humans[mh]+AND+english[la]+NOT+(letter[pt]+OR+editorial[pt]+OR+case+reports[pt])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+2+Years&tool=MedlinePlus
- Glossary of Terms about End-of-Life Decision Making(National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization) - http://www.caringinfo.org/Resources/Glossary.htm
- Psychiatric Advance Directives: State by State Information(National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives) - http://www.nrc-pad.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=282&Itemid=83
- National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization - http://www.nhpco.org/
- Advance Directives & Legal Resources(National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization) - http://www.caringinfo.org/index.cfm?page=256
- End-of-Life Decision-Making(Family Caregiver Alliance) - http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=401
- Ethical and Legal Issues(AGS Foundation for Health in Aging) - http://www.healthinaging.org/agingintheknow/chapters_ch_trial.asp?ch=4
- Eldercare at Home: Advance Directives(AGS Foundation for Health in Aging) - http://www.healthinaging.org/public_education/eldercare/27.xml
- End of Life Issues - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/endoflifeissues.html
- Family Issues - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/familyissues.html
- Hospice Care - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/hospicecare.html
- Personal Health Issues - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/personalhealthissues.html
- Social/Family Issues - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/socialfamilyissues.html
Advance Directives - Multiple Languages - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/languages/advancedirectives.html