Understanding Advance Care Planning Advance Care Planning helps others understand your future healthcare wishes if you become unable to speak for yourself.
Advance Care Planning is a process that involves you, the people important to you and your healthcare team. It helps you talk about what matters to you and how you would like decisions about your health and personal care to be made if you become seriously ill or injured and cannot communicate your wishes. Documenting your wishes can guide your family, substitute decision-maker and healthcare team, and can make decisions easier for the people close to you.
Your wishes may be recorded in different documents depending on where you live. These may include an Advance Care Directive, Advance Health Directive, Health Direction, Advance Care Plan, Statement of Choices or another state or territory document. Some documents are legally binding if completed correctly. Others guide care decisions but may not be legally binding. These documents are generally only used if you are unable to make or communicate healthcare decisions yourself.