States generally allow a person (principal) to appoint another person (agent) to make health care decisions, receive protected health information, or both on the principal’s behalf. In many states, ...

Advance directives are legal documents that outline your preferences regarding major medical decisions. The two main types are a living will and a durable power of attorney. An advance directive is ...

Christy Bieber has a JD from UCLA School of Law and began her career as a college instructor and textbook author. She has been writing full time for over a decade with a focus on making financial and ...

Beth Skwarecki is Lifehacker’s Senior Health Editor, and holds certifications as a personal trainer and weightlifting coach. She has been writing about health for over 10 years. If you ended up ...

Columns share an author’s personal perspective. Life is a terminal condition; everyone who lives eventually dies. So medicine’s role is not just to treat and possibly cure diseases, but to improve the ...

On this episode of Social Distance, James Hamblin and Katherine Wells talk with Edo Banach, the president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. They discuss how to create ...

Two main types of advance directives are living wills and healthcare power of attorney. These are legal documents that outline a person’s preferences regarding major medical decisions. An advance ...

Has the coronavirus pandemic made you think more about end-of life-planning... like advanced directives, a living will, or power of attorney? We talk about the different options, how the pandemic has ...

If estate planning isn't a grim enough subject, adding an advance directive for dementia to your plan is doubly unpleasant. But an hour or so of your time now could ensure your loved ones know how you ...

Five minutes. That is all I had to make my case: to convince this 80-year-old man to fill out an advanced care directive. John, as I’ll call him, had served in the military for over thirty years, ...

If ever there was a time to be sure that you and your loved ones have advanced directives regarding medical treatment, it is now, in the midst of this pandemic. This urgency applies to people of all ...