Role of the physician in encouraging use of advance directives.

Abstract

Advance directives provide patients with the chance to tailor health care decisions to their own values even after they have lost the capacity to make decisions. Federal legislation enacted in 1990 and now effective will ensure widespread awareness of this opportunity. However, the extent to which advance directives actually contribute to improving patient care will depend much more on how physicians educate and counsel their patients than on what the law mandates.