An advance directive is a way to tell your loved ones and doctors your wishes if something happens and you can’t speak for yourself. A directive can include the type and extent of your medical care.

Advance directives are legal documents that outline your preferences regarding major medical decisions. The two main types are a living will and a durable power of attorney. An advance directive is ...

Christy Bieber has a JD from UCLA School of Law and began her career as a college instructor and textbook author. She has been writing full time for over a decade with a focus on making financial and ...

An advance directive is a legally binding document regulated by state laws. Advance directives are subject to The Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA), 1990, a federal law that encourages individuals ...

States generally allow a person (principal) to appoint another person (agent) to make health care decisions, receive protected health information, or both on the principal’s behalf. In many states, ...

The practice of medicine involves a lot of paperwork, and not just for doctors. Even if they’re already stacking piles of co-pay bills, benefits estimate statements and reminder cards for long-past ...

Living wills and other advance directives are written, legal instructions regarding your preferences for medical care if you are unable to make decisions for yourself. Advance directives guide choices ...

It’s a common hope that most people share: that their end-of-life wishes will be respected if something happened and they couldn’t make their own health care decisions. Yet only about a third of ...

The end of life sometimes begins with an advance directive. Learning about advance directives now may make things easier for your loved ones later, when they’re in a hospital room trying to decide ...

HOME VERSUS HOSPITAL: Attorney Eva Clement, who helps people prepare advance-care directives, notes that the legal world hasn't caught up with the cultural shift from at-home to institutionalized ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. May 3—Karen Cuellar was lost. She simply wasn't sure what to do because she wasn't clear about what her husband would have wanted.