ABSTRACT
Recent years have seen a marked increase in the use of and enthusiasm for advance directives for medical care. Perhaps the most familiar type of advance directive is the living will, a document whereby a person when competent issues more or less specific instructions as to which forms of care or treatment she wishes to have or not to have under certain circumstances, when she is no longer competent to decide. The other main type of advance directive, usually called a durable power of attorney, is the designation of a proxy, a trusted individual or committee of individuals who are to make decisions for a person after she becomes incompetent. It is possible to combine the two: a person may designate a proxy but also lay down instructions that place limits on the proxy's discretion to decide.
