Advance Directive (Living Will) & Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare (Medical Proxy)

An advance directive is a legal document that outlines your preferences for medical treatment if you become unable to communicate or make decisions due to serious illness or injury. It ensures your end-of-life care wishes are honored and appoints a healthcare proxy to make decisions on your behalf.

• Living Will: A living will is a written document that specifies what medical treatment you would or would not want in the event you are in a terminal condition or a persistent vegetative state. A living will directs health care providers to cease or refrain from certain medical/surgical treatments. 
• Durable Power of Attorney/Healthcare Proxy: This document allows you to designate, in writing, another trusted person (an agent) who will be able to make health care decisions on your behalf if you are unable to do so yourself. You may specify whether the appointment of an agent takes effect immediately or at the time you are unable to make your own decisions. This agent has broader power to execute your wishes than can be provided under a living will, so you will want to select your agent carefully to make sure your agent knows and will follow your wishes. Unlike with a living will, you don’t have to be in a terminal condition for the power of attorney to take effect. 
• DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) Order: A DNR becomes part of your medical chart to inform medical staff in a hospital or nursing facility that you do not want CPR or other life-support measures to be attempted if your heartbeat and breathing stop. Sometimes this document is referred to as a do-not-attempt-resuscitation (DNR) order or an allow-natural-death (AND) order. Even though a living will might state that CPR is not wanted, it is helpful to have a DNR order as part of your medical file if you go to a hospital. Posting a DNR next to your hospital bed might avoid confusion in an emergency. Without a DNR order, medical staff will make every effort to restore your breathing and the normal rhythm of your heart. 
• POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment):  A portable, actionable medical order form signed by a doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant that documents the specific medical treatments a person wants or does not want during a medical emergency. A POLST is more common for people with serious, chronic illnesses, advanced frailty, or a terminal diagnosis. Unlike advance directives, which are often general, POLST forms are active medical orders that EMS and healthcare providers must follow immediately. 

Advance care planning is not just for people who are very old or ill. At any age, a medical crisis could leave you unable to communicate your own health care decisions. If you are healthy or young, a standard advance directive is usually sufficient, as a POLST is intended for active, high-stakes medical decision-making in the final stages of illness. Planning now for your future health care can help ensure you get the medical care you want and that someone you trust will be there to make decisions for you.

• It ensures you receive the medical care you want (or don't want) if you are in a coma, have dementia, or are otherwise incapacitated. 
• It reduces family burden by sparing your loved ones from the emotional and sometimes incorrect guesswork of making critical, high-stress end-of-life decisions for you. 
• It designates a specific trusted person as your legal decision-maker to advocate on your behalf.
• Preparing ahead reduces stress and anxiety for both you and your family, allowing for open communication about values and goals.

Starting an advance directive involves choosing a healthcare agent/proxy, deciding on treatment preferences (living will), and documenting these wishes using state-specific forms, which do not require a lawyer. 

Downloadable PDFs are available below.