Life Line’s philosophy of hospice is to always keep the patient in control of their healthcare, which is why Advance Care Planning is so important. Advance Directives are legal documents that allow the patient to voice their written wishes, preferences, and choices regarding end-of-life healthcare decisions. Think of them as a roadmap to help you think through and communicate your wishes regarding your future healthcare decisions if you are seriously ill or injured and unable to speak or express your decisions. When a patient has no Advance Directives they will receive the “standard of care,” which is what is automatically provided to anyone in a similar situation. During a medical emergency, it means doing everything medically appropriate and possible to attempt to save your life. This can mean providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to attempt to bring you back to life, transporting you to the hospital, and possibly putting you in the intensive care unit (ICU) on a breathing machine. If you can’t communicate and the health care team needs to make decisions for you about medical treatments, they will look at the relevant state law (or, in states where there is no applicable law, or facility policy) to determine who can help make those decisions for you. In a worst-case scenario when a patient’s family or care team disagrees on what appropriate care to provide, the decision can ultimately made through proceedings. Most patients who have an advance directive are older adults, but it’s never too soon to take preventive measures in the event of an emergency. While you do not need a lawyer to fill out an advance directive, your advance directive becomes legally valid as soon as you sign it in front of the required witnesses. Advance directives do not expire. An advance directive remains in effect until you change it. If you complete a new advance directive, it invalidates the previous one.