Planning Ahead: The Health Care Directive  

With the recent Terri Schiavo case in Florida hitting the news, many more patients may be thinking about what they might wish to have done (or not done) in the event their ability to make a decision becomes imperiled. States have a wide variety of names for this legal document, setting forth a patient's wishes for medical care: advance directive, living will, directive to physicians, medical power of attorney, patient advocate designation, and so on.

These are all terms for a "health care directive" -- that is, a formal, legal document with instructions about the type of health care a patient would want to receive, including who should oversee his or her treatment if he or she are unable to speak on their own. Here's a brief overview to help you understand the basic types of health care directives.

Health Care Declaration

This document is more commo...