Patients prepare advance directives in an effort to maintain autonomy during periods of
incapacity or at the end of life. Advance directive documents are specific to the state in which …

Background: Despite the growing availability of advance directives, most patients in the
intensive care unit lack written directives, and, therefore, consultation with families about …

Background: Advance directives assume that patients are able to decide what interventions
they would wish in the event of catastrophic illness. This study examines the preferences of …

Background: Patients and their physicians are increasingly being encouraged to discuss
end-of-life decisions. The purpose of this study was to enhance understanding of the public's …

Advance directives hold an anomalous position in our society. They have broad acceptance
as a matter of public policy, having been recognized in some form by the law of nearly every …

Encouraging patients to execute advance directives is a worthy goal. Although such
documents are certainly not perfect and may in many instances be difficult to interpret, 1 it is …

BACKGROUND: With the passage of the Patient Self-Determination Act in 1990, new
procedures and documents became available for planning end-of-life care. These new …

The concept of advance directives, although sound in theory, appears to be failing to meet
the needs of many patients. Advance directives have been endorsed by both the healthcare …

IN THIS ISSUE of the ARCHIVES, Gross1 presents data about the current use of advance
directives in clinical practice and makes a number of suggestions. Central to this article are a …

There are two important mechanisms by which an individ¬ ual can clearly indicate in
advance how treatment decisions will be made regarding the use of artificial life supports …