Let's Talk About the Plan No One Talks About -- but Everyone Needs.

Advance directives usually take effect after your doctor certifies you are incapacitated and nearing the end of life.

No. Your wishes about what type of treatment you do and do not want will be clearly spelled out in your advance directive and you should always be kept comfortable.

Younger individuals participate in riskier activities and the possibility of becoming seriously injured and ending up in a vegetative state for decades is higher. It is important, then, that young adults have an advance directive with a designated a health care agent to make decisions on their behalf in the event of such a circumstance.

No! Your authority is always yours while you can speak for yourself. You can revise or revoke the directive if conscious.

Yes. You can update anytime. Just make sure you fill out a NEW advance directive, and discard all older copies. (The advance directive booklet we use is easy to update, no jargon, and you can keep extras on hand for when you need to update and replace.)

Consider reviewing and/or creating a new advance directive in any of these situations: change of marital status, death of adult child or addiction issues of adult child designated as health care agent. If you move to a different state due to state laws being different. If you get a new health diagnosis. Generally, review every 10 years for change in your own decisions.

No, in the states where physician-assisted suicide is legal, each state has it’s own procedures for requesting it, and none allow this to be done through an advance directive.