Advance directives have not fulfilled their promise of facilitating decisions about end-of-life
care for incompetent patients. Many legal requirements and restrictions concerning advance …

Advance directives are legal documents outlining a patient's preferences for treatment at the
end of life. The intent is that the documents will be used if the patient later cannot …

BACKGROUND: Advance directives are a means of promoting patient autonomy in end-of-
life decisions but are used infrequently. A recent federal law requires healthcare …

Background Since the passage of the Patient Self-Determination Act in 1991, there has
been interest in urging patients to execute advance directives (ADs) for medical care. There …

Joan M. Teno and her colleagues report a number of illuminating findings in “Do Formal
Advance Directives Affect Resuscitation Decisions and the Use of Resources for Seriously Ill …

In principal, increasing the use of advance directives is important; however, they are not
sufficient to address the important concerns of family members of dying patients. Teno …

Background: Advance directives have been studied in different patient populations and
institutions. Most reports have shown limited use and little medically observable effect. To …

Background: Despite the potential benefits of advance directives, few patients complete
them. This study examined whether barriers to advance decision making can be overcome …

Background: Although advance medical directives, such as living wills and durable powers
of attorney for health care, are by themselves imperfect instruments for expressing patients' …

Background: Advance directive law may compromise the clinical effectiveness of advance
directives. Purpose: To identify unintended legal consequences of advance directive law …