An advance directive is a record of a person's preferences for future medical care that is documented when the person is capable of making such decisions in case there is ever a time when the person may not have the capacity to make medical choices. Advance directives represent formal communication about a person's goals for end-of-life care, and they can be a useful tool for guiding family members and physicians in making decisions on behalf of a person who does not have decision-making capacity due to cognitive impairment.

Advance directives take numerous forms: a living will indicates a person's wishes concerning specific end-of-life medical treatment; a do not resuscitate order instructs health care providers not to intubate or use cardiopulmonary resuscitation to revive a person's breathing ...