The living will was first proposed more than 20 years ago,' and for almost that long commentators have suggested that it and other types of advance directives* could be used in the treatment of individuals with mental i l l n e ~ s . ~ The uses offered for advance directives vary considerably depending on the philosophy and goals of the commentator. Psychiatrists and families of mentally ill in...

BACKGROUND This paper joins the debate over changes in the role of health professionals when applying advance directives to manage the decision-making process at the end of life care. Issues in relation to advance directives occur in clinical units in Lithuania; however, it remains one of the few countries in the European Union (EU) where the discussion on advance directives is not included in ...

INTRODUCTION Although most patients wish to be fully informed about bad news such as a diagnosis of cancer, a significant minority prefer no or minimal information. We examined the value of asking patients about their disclosure preferences at the outset of hospitalization. METHODS Consecutive patients admitted to a respiratory and a geriatric unit were asked whether and how they would wish t...

This article considers the ethics of advance directives, especially in relation to conditions such as dementia. For some choices, such as over whether one's life should end at home or in a hospice, advance directives can be very enlightened and helpful. For others, such as those to end the life of an autonomous subject, against their will, have no moral appeal and would rightly be ignored. In a...

Suboptimal care at the end-of-life can be due to lack of access or knowledge of patient wishes. Ambiguity is often the result of non-standardized formats. Borrowing digital technology from other industries and using existing health information infrastructure can greatly improve the completion, storage, and distribution of advance directives. We believe several simple, low-cost adaptations to re...

This paper analyses the role that advance directives can play in the formation of advanced care planning. Following on from a review of the legal history of advance directives in Australia, including the common law and statutory regimes, it is argued that schemes for advance directives have not yet proven to be successful. It is proposed that what is needed is a more integrated approach, whereb...

An advance directive is a form of ‘living will’, which outlines the treatment desired when an individual lacks the capacity to make a decision of his own. This is called a living will because it is meant to operate whilst the maker is alive, albeit incapacitated. In view of the increasing treatment interventions now available, there is growing recognition that an individual has the right to ref...

P atients have gained unprecedented levels of control over their medical care, including prospective control over what treatments they will receive if they lose the ability to make decisions. The landmark Cruzan and Quinlan cases helped to secure patients' right to prospectively refuse life-sustaining treatments [1,2], while the Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990 mandated that patients be i...

N.M. Wood1; J.D. D'Amore2; S.L. Jones3; D.F. Sittig4; R.B. Ness1 1University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas, United States; 2Diameter Health, Newton, Massachusetts, United States; 3Houston Methodist Hospital, Surgery, Houston, Texas, United States; 4University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics and the UT-Memorial Hermann Center for Healthcare Quality & Safety, Houston,...