Expressing My Wishes for Future Health Care Treatment
 

Advance care planning begins by thinking about your beliefs, values and wishes regarding future health care treatment. It is about having conversations with your close family, friends and health care provider(s) so that they know the health care treatment you would agree to, or refuse, if you become incapable of expressing your own decisions.

When you write down your wishes and instructions for future health care, you are making an Advance Care Plan. An Advance Care Plan is a written summary of a capable adult’s wishes or instructions to guide a substitute decision maker if that person is asked by a physician or other health care provider to make a health care treatment decision on behalf of the adult.

Your Advance Care Plan can also include:

• A Representation Agreement where you write your instructions and name someone to make your health and personal care decisions if you become incapable.

• An Advance Directive with your instructions for health care that are given to your health care provider, which they must follow directly when it speaks to the care you need at the time if you become incapable.

• An Enduring Power of Attorney where you appoint someone to make decisions about your financial affairs, business and property.