Advance directives are legally-enforceable documents that allow
us to express whether we want certain levels of care when we
become unable to make those decisions for ourselves. All 50
states and the District of Columbia regulate advance directives
by statute. Authorities agree that there is no difference
between withholding lifesaving treatment and withdrawing life-
support treatment, which is important, for example, when someone
is resuscitated despite his or her wishes because the advance
directive couldn't be found and the person is placed on life
support. Once the advance directive is made available to
healthcare providers, life-support measures can be stopped.
Advance directives are completely optional, but, as noted above,
they're enforceable: all healthcare facilities--hospitals, for
example--that accept federal funding are required to ask if a
patient has one and make available documents that can be
executed to put a directive into effect. It's equally important
to remember that no doctor or health ca