Advance Directives

An "Advance Directive" is a legal document (as a living will) signed by a living competent person in order to provide guidance for medical and health-care decisions (as the termination of life support and organ donation) in the event that the person becomes incompetent to make such decisions.
SOURCE: "advance directive." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2005.http://www.merriam-webster.com (March 21, 2005). 
See also Advance Directives from the MedlinePlus® Encyclopedia.

Keywords and alternate phrases to use:  

• Living Wills
• Advanced Care Directives
• Advance Care Planning
• End-of-life Decision-Making
• Terminal Care
• Palliative Care
• Death and Dying

Resources on the Web:

• Advance Directive Basics © 2000-2005 The American Academy of Family Physicians.

• Advance Care Planning: Preferences for Care at the End of Life

  • End of Life Care  

• American Cancer Society’s Introduction to Advance Directives Copyright 2005 © American Cancer Society, Inc.
• End of Life Planning  from the Family Caregiver Alliance
• End of Life Care, Advance Directives - Department of Health and Human Services
• Ethical Issues and End-of-Life Planning from Beth Israel Medical Center
• A Guidebook on Health Care Proxy Laws New York State Department of Health  
• The Living Will: A Guide To Health Care Decision Making published by Hodgson Russ LLP ©Jack Freer and Liz Clark, Esq.
• "Make your medical care wishes known" from the Mayo Clinic® 
• U.S. Living Will Registry ® electronically stores advance directives, and makes them available to health care providers 24 hours/day via secure Internet or telephone -facsimile.Copyright © 1999 – 2005 U.S. Living Will Registry ®. All Rights Reserved.

SUPPORTS doctor-assisted suicide: Compassion and Choices © 2005 All Rights Reserved. "Compassion & Choices is a nonprofit organization  working to improve care and expand choice at the end of life."

OPPOSES doctor-assisted suicide: 

• Not Dead Yet "Killing is not just another medical treatment option, and it must not be made any part of routine health care." 
• Physicians for Compassionate Care Educational Foundation © Copyright 2001 - 2006

Resources in the Library 

Reference Books

• REF 362.175 DEA   Death and dying sourcebook : c1999
• REF 362.198 ENC   The encyclopedia of elder care 2001 
• REF 344.73   LIE     The living will handbook : Lieberson, Alan D. c1991
• REF 306.9     MAC   Macmillan encyclopedia of death and dying 2003 
  
  

Top

• 362. 175 POO    End of life nursing care 2001 
• 306. 909 STA     A few months to live c2001
• 362. 175 LYN     Handbook for mortals 2001 
• 362. 175 PAL     Palliative care nursing 2001
• 174. 24   ULR     The patient self-determination act 1999 
• 362. 16    VOI     Voices of decision in nursing homes ed. 2001 

Videos, On Reserve 

• RES VCAS 306.9 MOY      A different kind of care 2000 
• RES VCAS 615. 8043        The many aspects of DNR 2002
• RES VCAS 306.9 MOY      A time to change Moyers 2000 

Compiled Spring 2005 by Liz Evans
Graduate Intern, School of Informatics
Department of Library and Information Studies (LIS)
State University of New York at Buffalo