Put Your Medical Wishes in Writing — Before It's Too Late
An advance care directive — sometimes called a "living will" — lets you document your specific wishes for medical treatment so your doctors and family know exactly what you want, even when you can't tell them yourself.
This isn't about giving up control. It's about keeping it. An advance care directive ensures that decisions about your health care reflect your values, your beliefs, and your choices — not someone else's best guess.
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What an Advance Care Directive Covers
You can use an advance care directive to set out your wishes on:
Life-sustaining treatment — whether you want it continued, withheld, or withdrawn in specific circumstances
Resuscitation — your preferences for CPR and mechanical ventilation
Palliative care — your wishes around pain management and comfort-focused treatment
Organ and tissue donation
Specific treatments you want to accept or refuse
The values and priorities you want your care team to consider when making decisions
Legal Status in British Columbia
Advance care directives are recognized in BC as strong evidence of your wishes and are routinely followed by health care providers. While they operate differently from a representation agreement — which gives a named person legal authority to decide on your behalf — an advance care directive tells your care team and your family what you want, in your own words.
For the most complete protection, we recommend having both an advance care directive and a representation agreement in place.
Who Needs an Advance Care Directive?
Everyone. You don't need to be elderly or ill to benefit from this document. If you have strong feelings about medical treatment, end-of-life care, or how decisions should be made during a health crisis, putting those wishes in writing now saves your family from having to guess later — often during the most difficult moments of their lives.
We help you think through these decisions carefully and draft a directive that clearly reflects your wishes as part of a comprehensive incapacity and estate plan.
