Advance Care Directives

Planning Ahead For Your Health Care

What happens if you can’t make health care decisions for yourself? Do your loved ones know how to answer questions about what you’d want for your care? Do you know who would best advocate for you if you cannot speak for yourself?

These conversations can be hard to think about and hard to start. But planning ahead and documenting your wishes will lead to better care and peace of mind. Having your wishes in writing means your loved ones won’t have to guess at important decisions during times of stress.

An important part of this process is creating advance directives. They are documents like:

• Power of Attorney for Health Care: A document you fill out to name a person to make health care decisions for you if you’re unable to make them for yourself. They are called your “agent.” They can be a spouse, a parent, adult child, sibling or friend. They will communicate with your health care team and let them know what your wishes are.
• Living Will: This document specifies what you would or would not want in scenarios like a terminal condition or persistent vegetative state. You can decide if you would like life-prolonging treatments or not. This document does not designate a decision maker for your care.