When we are drafting an estate plan, we start out with what’s called an “advance healthcare directive”.  It is a written document that says what you would like to see happen with your healthcare decisions if you cannot make them. It is a power that you give to somebody else to make those decisions. If you don’t have a healthcare directive and you are under a doctor’s care, there are things the doctor can and cannot do because you haven’t given him the power to do so when you were able to do it and you haven’t given someone else the power to do so when you are unable to give it. The healthcare directive usually gives this power to your wife/husband, close relative, or close friend. It basically says that this person has the right to make decisions for me. Within that healthcare directive, it says what kind of decisions you want to have made.