Have an advanced directive and share your plan and ideas with someone you trust.

The completed document should be signed by the witnesses and the client of the advanced directive.

The advanced directive should be reviewed regularly and reflect changes in the client's current marital situation (e.g. marriage or divorce).

Legal advice may be helpful in creating advanced directives such as a power of attorney.

If I don't have an advanced directive, the only course I can follow is an aggressive one.

If a patient does not have an advanced directive for health care, state laws specify which relatives may consent for them and in what order.

Many hospitals and clinics will ask the patient or family about the existence of advanced directives when they are admitted to the hospital.

Unless there's some advanced directive she left about who had access to her things...you've every right.

Without an advanced directive or health care proxy, families might disagree on care and stall processes that can provide necessary treatment or comfort.

Doctors should be sure to discuss with patients and families the implications and circumstances of advanced directives in the context of the immediate postoperative period.