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Living will. A living will is a written, legal document that spells out medical treatments you would and would not want to be used to keep you alive, as well as your preferences for other medical decisions, such as pain management or organ donation. In determining your wishes, think about your values.

Advance directives are legal documents that provide instructions for medical care and only go into effect if you cannot communicate your own wishes. The two most common advance directives for health care are the living will and the durable power of attorney for health care.

Many times, advance directives are too vague to guide clinical decisions. For example, general statements rejecting "heroic treatments" are vague and do not indicate whether you want a particular treatment for a specific situation (such as antibiotics for pneumonia after a severe stroke).

No one can change your advance directive without your permission. If you want to change it, you can do that, but no one else can do it without your knowledge. Your appointed healthcare agent can make medical decisions for you.

______ I appoint this person to make decisions about my medical care if there ever comes a time when I cannot make those decisions myself. I want the person I have appointed, my doctors, my family and others to be guided by the decisions I have made in the parts of the form that follow.

Problems with Advance Directives Sometimes, people change their minds after expressing advance directives and forget to inform others. Many times, advance directives are too vague to guide clinical decisions.