Advance Directive Forms
By its very nature, this document is prepared well in advance of when it will be needed. Advance preparation leads to two problems: finding a safe, yet accessible place to store it; and making sure that it still reflects your wishes, even if it is not needed for 15 or 20 years. These problems point to the need for a central storage place, where health care providers can get quick and easy access to these documents, while maintaining privacy and confidentiality. The U.S. Advance Care Plan Registry® has been storing advance directives since 1996. The Registry electronically stores the documents, and makes them available to hospitals and health care providers across the country 24 hours a day. In addition to access by hospitals and health care providers, a personal on-line account is created for each registrant, so they can view, download, fax or email their document whenever they want…even from their smartphone. Registrants are contacted every year to remind them to update their personal and emergency contact information, and to confirm that their advance directive has not been changed or revoked. In this way, there will be no doubt that the document still reflects their wishes. Visit “How to Register” for more information.
Visit “How to Register” for information on registering your advance directive. You can read what current registrants say about the Registry by visiting the testimonials link.
Here are some sources for advance directive forms:
- Your local hospital – Federal law requires all hospitals to provide information about advance directives to people in their communities, including information about the laws in your state. You can obtain information and a form by contacting the Patient Representative or Department of Social Services at your hospital.
- The states listed below are linked to web sites that provide free advance directive forms. These links are provided as an easy and convenient way for you to find a form for your state. The U.S. Advance Care Plan Registry® does not provide legal advice or legal services, and the Registry does not represent that the forms provided by these sites are legally valid. The Registry is not responsible for the content of the forms on these sites. State laws sometimes change, making forms obsolete. You should check with an attorney to make sure that the advance directive you prepare complies with the law in your state. Click on your state to download an advance directive form. When you click on one of the links listed below you will be leaving the U.S. Advance Care Plan Registry‘s web site.
To read and download forms from some of the above sites, you may need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
You can also visit the “Internet Resources” link for more information.