You have the right to make your decisions. You have the right to expect that your health care provider to tell you about the nature of any proposed procedure or treatment, along with the possible benefits, effects, risks or benefits. You have the right to know about alternative treatments and their risks and benefits. And you have the right to decide whether you even want treatment or not.

But what if, because of injury or illness, you become incapable of making health care decisions for yourself?. If you are eighteen years or older, you can still remain in charge of your health care by creating a Living Will or a Medical Power of Attorney.

These documents, known as Advance Directives, can be used to let your family and doctors know the decisions for health care if you become unable to decide for yourself. You can appoint someone you know and trust as your health care representative to ensure that your choice or decision is honored.

A Living Will is a document that directs your doctor to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging interventions (such as CPR, kidney dialysis or machines to help you breathe) if you are terminally ill or in a persistent vegetable state (permanently unconscious). It tells your doctor to provide only those treatments, that will relieve pain and provide comfort. You may add other special directives or limitations in your Living Will.

A Medical Power of Attorney is another type of Advance Directive which allows you to name a person to make health care decisions for you if you are unable to make them for yourself.

'Mere are definite differences between a Living Will and a Medical Power of Attorney. A Living Will only applies if you are terminally ill or in a persistent vegetative state, and, unless you write in other specific nstructions, it only tells your doctor what you do not want. The Medical Power of Attorney allows you to appoint someone to make health care decisions for you if you cannot make them. It covers all health care situations in which you are incapable of making decisions for yourself. It also allows you to give specific instructions to your representative about the type of care you would want to receive. 'Me Medical Power of Attorney allows your representative to respond to medical situations that you might not have anticipated and to make decisions for you with knowledge of your values and wishes. Since the Medical Power of Attorney is more flexible, it is the Advance Directive most people choose. Some people, however, do not have someone whom they trust or who knows their values and preferences. These folks should consider creating a Living Will.

It is not uncommon for people to create both a Living Will and a Medical Power of Attorney. However, since the Medical Power of Attorney is a more flexible document and allows you to name someone to make decisions for you, it is advisable to create a Medical Power of Attorney even if you have already signed a Living Will. The representative you appoint with your Medical Power of Attorney can help see that the preferences expressed in your Living Will are carried out. So choose as your representative someone who knows your values and wishes, whom you trust to make decisions for you, who is likely to be available if needed, and who will decide matters the way you would decide.

If ou choose to sign both documents, you should see that they are stored in the same place to help assure that your representative will know to respect all of your wishes.

Remember, consent to and refusal of health care is your fight. If you have made your wishes known in an Advance Directive, your doctor and your representative must respect those wishes. If your doctor cannot abide by your wishes, he or she must transfer your care to another doctor. If you have appointed someone as your representative under a Medical Power of Attorney, that person's consents and refusals on your behalf are as valid as if you had made them yourself. The wishes of other family members do not reverse your own clearly expressed decisions or those made by your representative on your behalf.