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Advance Directives: Insuring your
health care decisions will be honored

Everyone has the right to control decisions regarding their health care. Advance directives ensure that those decisions will be respected.

Advance directives are legal documents that guide the treatment decisions of doctors and other health care workers if you are unable to communicate your wishes yourself. Advance directives include living wills, medical powers of attorney and DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) orders.

Different directives serve different purposes

A living will states whether you want medical or life-sustaining treatments given to you should you become seriously or terminally ill. A living will does not identify a health care representative to make decisions for you.

A medical power of attorney gives another person the power to make health care decisions for you if you are unable to make them for yourself.

A Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order states that you do not want to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if your heart should stop or if you should stop breathing.

Why are advanced directives important?

Advanced directives ensure -- even if you are unable to communicate -- that you will be the one to determine your medical treatment. With advance directives in place, you have the peace of mind of knowing that your wishes will be carried out and that you have protected loved ones from the anguish of making difficult treatment decisions for you.

Virginia Advance Medical Directives

The Commonwealth of Virginia has an Advance Medical Directives form that is available free of charge. You can use this form to establish a medical power of attorney, to sign a living will and to identify an agent to make an anatomical gift for you. This form does not include a DNR order.

Download a copy of the Virginia Advance Medical Directives here.