An Advance Directive (AD) is a legal document that reflects your wishes for your care in the event of an unexpected medical situation. Advance Directives include a Health Care Directive, and the Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA). The Health Care Directive includes details of your wishes for your medical care. The DPOA allows you to designate someone you trust as your healthcare agent – this person would speak for you and make healthcare decisions for you in the event you cannot speak for yourself.

Completing your Advance Directive while healthy is actively recommended—you will be able to think through scenarios and articulate your wishes while not feeling rushed or overwhelmed in the moment of a healthcare crisis. Having your wishes in writing helps avoid chaos or confusion in the moments when there may be a medical crisis.

A completed Advance Directive is encouraged for anyone over the age of 18, and you can update or modify it at any point.

It can seem overwhelming! The most important thing about the Advance Directive is that it indicates your healthcare wishes and identifies your healthcare agent. There are many forms available, through your State Attorney’s office (you can find your state’s form on our website), Five Wishes, or mydirectives.com. However, if you like, you can always write your own. All you need to do to verify it as an Advance Directive is have it signed by two non-family witnesses (no notarization or lawyer necessary).

In a medical emergency, you may be surrounded by a care team that is not familiar with you, your medical history, or your healthcare wishes. Having a healthcare agent identified in your Advance Directive ensures that you have someone with you who is advocating for your health and knows what you would want. If you are unable to vocalize or make medical decisions, this is the person who would be contacted and speak to the healthcare team on your behalf.

The healthcare agent in your Advance Directive should be someone who you trust to honor your wishes. It does not have to be a family member, spouse, or partner – in some cases, it is encouraged to choose a non-family member, as your family members would not feel any added emotional responsibility.

Some guidelines for choosing your healthcare agent:

• You are comfortable discussing end of life thoughts, concerns, and wishes with them.
• They would be able to communicate your wishes to your family members and your healthcare team.
• They are easy to contact – not a relative outside the country, for example.
• They would be able to stay calm and not become emotionally compromised or ignore your wishes.
• They agree to be your healthcare agent.

If you have a medical emergency, you can take comfort in knowing you have documentation that has your healthcare wishes written down, and a healthcare agent in place who would speak for you if needed. This removes a layer of stress during a potentially hectic time. You should keep your AD with you whenever you are going out of state or traveling, as it can help guide a healthcare team in the event of an emergency.

Yes, any values or traditions that are important to you should be included. The Advance Directive is a document that expresses your wishes. If you find that the form you are using does not have space or ask questions that address these wishes, you can always add on to it or create your own document.

You should make several copies of your Advance Directive and keep it accessible in the event of an emergency.

Keep one:

• easily accessible at home – perhaps in the kitchen or with other important files
• that can go with you when you travel
• with your healthcare agent
• with your medical provider

You can make changes to your Advance Directive at any point! Just be sure to update it in the locations listed above. If you experience any major life changes (such as marriage, death of a close friend or family member, diagnosis of an illness) it is a good time to evaluate your AD. Otherwise, you can choose to review it at an interval you are comfortable with (every 5 or 10 years, for example).

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