a personal directive is a legal document you make in case you cannot make your own personal decisions in the future. a personal directive: this is what may occur if you do not have a personal directive and something happens when you are unable to make your own decisions: consult a lawyer for legal advice to ensure that your wishes are represented accurately. you and a witness have to sign the personal directive to make it a legal document. keep your personal directive in a safe place with your other advance care planning documents.

an advance directive is the record of that process. advance directive is both an umbrella term for defining and expressing how one wants to live and be treated and for state approved advance directive documents which allow you to specify those things and usually to appoint a person (an agent who is appointed through a power of attorney) to speak when you are unable to speak for yourself. the first steps in preparing an advance directive are to think about what is important to you, to talk with people you are close to, and to inform yourself about your health.

you can also say what medical treatments you want and what medical treatments you don’t want if in the future you’re unable to make your wishes known. give copies to your doctor, your nurse, the person you name to make your medical decisions for you, people in your family and anyone else who might be involved in your care. advance directive—a written document (form) that tells what a person wants or doesn’t want if he/she in the future can’t make his/her wishes known about medical treatment. durable power of attorney for health care—an advance directive that names someone to make medical decisions for a person if in the future he/she can’t make his/her own medical decisions.

knowing who you want to make decisions on your behalf and how you would decide might take some of the burden off family and friends. sometimes decisions must be made about the use of emergency treatments to keep you alive. if you are not able to eat, you may be fed through a feeding tube that is threaded through the nose down to your stomach. if you don’t have any medical issues now, your family medical history might be a clue to help you think about the future. an advance directive allows you to provide instructions for these types of situations and then to change the instructions as you get older or if your viewpoint changes. a living will is a written document that helps you tell doctors how you want to be treated if you are dying or permanently unconscious and cannot make your own decisions about emergency treatment.

select your state below to find free advance directive forms for where you live. every adult should have an advance directive in which you explain the type of health care you do or do not want when you can’t make your own decisions. you should also appoint someone who can speak for you to make sure your wishes are carried out. advance directive is the general term that refers to the various documents that could include a living will, instruction directive, health care proxy or health care power of attorney. some states combine the two forms so you can record your treatment preferences and name your health care advocate in one document. you are leaving aarp.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. you are leaving aarp.org and going to the website of our trusted provider.