An advance healthcare directive, also known as living will, personal directive, advance directive, medical directive or advance decision, is a legal document in which a person specifies what actions should be taken for their health if they are no longer able to make decisions for themselves because of illness or incapacity. In the U.S. it has a legal status in itself, whereas in some countries it is legally persuasive without being a legal document.
A living will is one form of advance directive, leaving instructions for treatment. Another form is a specific type of
power of attorney or
health care proxy
In the field of medicine, a healthcare proxy (commonly referred to as HCP) is a document (legal instrument) with which a patient (primary individual) appoints an agent to legally make healthcare decisions on behalf of the patient, when the patient ...
, in which the person authorizes someone (an agent) to make decisions on their behalf when they are incapacitated. People are often encouraged to complete both documents to provide comprehensive guidance regarding their care, although they may be combined into a single form. An example of combination documents includes the
Five Wishes in the United States. The term ''living will'' is also the commonly recognised vernacular in many countries, especially the U.K.
Background
Advance directives were created in response to the increasing sophistication and prevalence of medical technology.
[Choice in Dying (now: Partnership in Caring). ''Choice in Dying: an historical perspective.'' CID 1035-30th Street, N.W. Washington, DC. 2007] Numerous studies have documented critical deficits in the medical care of the dying; it has been found to be unnecessarily prolonged, painful, expensive, and emotionally burdensome to both patients and their families.