a legal document prepared when an individual is competent, and able to give informed consent. It provides guidance to the health care team if the person is no longer capable of making decisions. An advance directive may specify medical treatment to which the individual consents or refuses, designate a surrogate decision-maker, or both.
an umbrella term that includes living wills, health care powers of attorney, medical directives, and instructions for organ donations
a document, which allows you to give directions about your future medical care
a fairly new legal, medical, ethical, and social concept
a written or spoken statement about your future medical care
a written statement of your wishes regarding your healthcare, which goes into effect if at sometime you are unable to make healthcare decisions
a document in which you make your wishes known about continuation of life support and treatment in the event of a "terminal condition" or a "persistent vegetative state," and also in which you appoint an Agent to make medical decisions for you in the event you are unable to make such decisions for yourself. Also called Health Care Power of Attorney, Medical Power of Attorney, Health Care Directive. Agent -- a person who serves you under an advance medical directive or power of attorney. Attorney-in-Fact -- a person who serves you under a power of attorney.
The legal instrument in which a person nominates another to make medical decisions when one is unable to do so, and also expresses the person's wishes as to the extent of "extraordinary" medical care desired in case of imminent death from an irreversible condition, or in the case of a persistent vegetative state. The Advance Medical Directive includes both a "living will" and a "durable power of attorney for health care decisions."
An advance medical directive is a document that provides instructions concerning a person's healthcare if the person can not give those instructions. There are two different types of advance medical directives. The first is a living will that gives instructions concerning a person's healthcare if the person is dying. The second is a medical or healthcare power of attorney that appoints an agent to make healthcare decisions for a person who is incapable of making these decisions. Frequently, an advance medical directive will include both a living will and a medical power of attorney but need not be combined into one document.