Categories of Advance Directives

There are multiple types of ADs, including living wills, designation of a health care
proxy and/or a durable power of attorney, or physician’s orders for life-sustaining
treatment.
Living will
 Written document that states what medical treatments the patient desires (and which they prefer
to omit or refuse) should the patient become incapacitated 

 May be very general or very specific

 Includes instructions for things such as:

o Rejecting artificial airways (i.e., intubation) and/or ventilators

o CPR

o Use of feeding tubes and/or IV fluids for nutrition and hydration

o Analgesia/pain relief

o Use of antibiotics

 The most common statement in a living will reads something similar to, “If I suffer an incurable,
irreversible illness, disease, or condition, and my attending physician determines my condition is
terminal, I direct that life-sustaining measures that serve only to prolong my dying be withheld or
discontinued.”
Categories of Advance Directives
There are multiple types of ADs, including living wills, designation of a health care
proxy and/or a durable power of attorney, or physician’s orders for life-sustaining
treatment.
Living will
 Written document that states what medical treatments the patient desires (and which they prefer
to omit or refuse) should the patient become incapacitated 

 May be very general or very specific

 Includes instructions for things such as:

o Rejecting artificial airways (i.e., intubation) and/or ventilators

o CPR

o Use of feeding tubes and/or IV fluids for nutrition and hydration

 o Analgesia/pain relief

o Use of antibiotics

 The most common statement in a living will reads something similar to, “If I suffer an incurable,
irreversible illness, disease, or condition, and my attending physician determines my condition is
terminal, I direct that life-sustaining measures that serve only to prolong my dying be withheld or
discontinued.”
Categories of Advance Directives
There are multiple types of ADs, including living wills, designation of a health care
proxy and/or a durable power of attorney, or physician’s orders for life-sustaining
treatment.
Living will
 Written document that states what medical treatments the patient desires (and which they prefer
to omit or refuse) should the patient become incapacitated 

 May be very general or very specific

 Includes instructions for things such as:

o Rejecting artificial airways (i.e., intubation) and/or ventilators

o CPR

o Use of feeding tubes and/or IV fluids for nutrition and hydration

o Analgesia/pain relief

o Use of antibiotics

 The most common statement in a living will reads something similar to, “If I suffer an incurable,
irreversible illness, disease, or condition, and my attending physician determines my condition is
terminal, I direct that life-sustaining measures that serve only to prolong my dying be withheld or
discontinued.”
Categories of Advance Directives
There are multiple types of ADs, including living wills, designation of a health care
proxy and/or a durable power of attorney, or physician’s orders for life-sustaining
treatment.
Living will
 Written document that states what medical treatments the patient desires (and which they prefer
to omit or refuse) should the patient become incapacitated 

 May be very general or very specific

 Includes instructions for things such as:

o Rejecting artificial airways (i.e., intubation) and/or ventilators

o CPR

o Use of feeding tubes and/or IV fluids for nutrition and hydration

o Analgesia/pain relief

o Use of antibiotics

 The most common statement in a living will reads something similar to, “If I suffer an incurable,
irreversible illness, disease, or condition, and my attending physician determines my condition is
terminal, I direct that life-sustaining measures that serve only to prolong my dying be withheld or
discontinued.”
Categories of Advance Directives
There are multiple types of ADs, including living wills, designation of a health care
proxy and/or a durable power of attorney, or physician’s orders for life-sustaining
treatment.
Living will
 Written document that states what medical treatments the patient desires (and which they prefer
to omit or refuse) should the patient become incapacitated 

 May be very general or very specific

 Includes instructions for things such as:

o Rejecting artificial airways (i.e., intubation) and/or ventilators

o CPR

o Use of feeding tubes and/or IV fluids for nutrition and hydration

o Analgesia/pain relief

o Use of antibiotics
  The most common statement in a living will reads something similar to, “If I suffer an incurable,
irreversible illness, disease, or condition, and my attending physician determines my condition is
terminal, I direct that life-sustaining measures that serve only to prolong my dying be withheld or
discontinued.”
Categories of Advance Directives
There are multiple types of ADs, including living wills, designation of a health care
proxy and/or a durable power of attorney, or physician’s orders for life-sustaining
treatment.
Living will
 Written document that states what medical treatments the patient desires (and which they prefer
to omit or refuse) should the patient become incapacitated 

 May be very general or very specific

 Includes instructions for things such as:

o Rejecting artificial airways (i.e., intubation) and/or ventilators

o CPR

o Use of feeding tubes and/or IV fluids for nutrition and hydration

o Analgesia/pain relief

o Use of antibiotics

 The most common statement in a living will reads something similar to, “If I suffer an incurable,
irreversible illness, disease, or condition, and my attending physician determines my condition is
terminal, I direct that life-sustaining measures that serve only to prolong my dying be withheld or
discontinued.”